Word for optimistic and pessimistic

Published September 23, 2020

Whenever Maya had bad news, she always told her mom before her dad out of fear of how he would take it. While her mom was able to make her feel better about a situation, her dad jumped to the worst case scenario and viewed any challenge with a negative perspective.

Does this make Maya’s mom an optimistic person and her dad a pessimistic one? Is his gloomy personality the complete opposite of his wife’s hopeful outlook?  Let’s take a closer look to see what these two words mean and whether or not they’re actually antonyms.

What does optimistic mean?

Optimistic is an adjective that’s defined as “disposed to take a favorable view of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.” It can also refer to someone or something that “reflects a favorable view of events and conditions and the expectation of a positive outcome; demonstrating optimism.”

Optimistic can refer to a person who is hopeful about how something will turn out or describes something that has a positive or confident future outcome.

For example:

• One of the things Clara’s friends love the most about her is that she’s endlessly optimistic and always able to find the positive in even the worst situations.
• After months of layoffs and staggering unemployment rates, there’s finally an optimistic economic forecast.
• Although the players spent most of the first half of the game losing, their coach is optimistic that they can still turn it around if they focus.

Optimistic was first recorded around 1840–50 and is based on optimist, which stems from the French optimiste. Synonyms for optimistic include assured, cheerful, confident, encouraged, happy, hopeful, idealistic, keeping the faith, positive, and promising. Antonyms for optimistic include dejected, depressed, doubtful, gloomy, hopeless, pessimistic, and sorrowful.

What does pessimistic mean?

Pessimistic is an adjective that is defined as “pertaining to or characterized by pessimism or the tendency to expect only bad outcomes; gloomy; joyless; unhopeful.”

For example:

• He has such a pessimistic outlook that each time he goes to a doctor’s appointment he is terrified over what they might find.
• Although she was incredibly talented, her pessimistic mom feared she’d never have a successful singing career.
• After one failed driving test, the pessimistic teen was positive he would never get his driver’s license.

Pessimistic was first recorded around 1865–70, and it stems from pessimist, which is ultimately derived from pessimus, the Latin superlative of malus (“bad”). Synonyms for pessimistic include bleak, depressed, despairing, discouraged, gloomy, hopeless, and sad. Antonyms for pessimistic include bright, cheerful, encouraged, happy, joyful, sunny, confident, optimistic, and trusting.

How to use each

Optimistic and pessimistic are antonyms, and when it comes to people, it’s easy to see why. These two adjectives are the complete opposite. For personality types, they describe either a person who lives life filled with complete despair and hopelessness or an upbeat and positive individual who can always see the bright side in any situation.

For example:

• Although he tried not to be discouraging after her cancer diagnosis, Daniel’s pessimistic personality prevented him from being a supportive friend.
• Despite watching her mom die of breast cancer, Joy remained optimistic and refused to let her own diagnosis terrify her.

Or:

• After their nasty breakup, Amanda was completely pessimistic that she would ever find love again.
• Tony was heartbroken after Amanda left but remained optimistic that the right person for him was still out there.

Other examples include:

• During the coronavirus outbreak pessimistic shoppers stockpiled toilet paper and bottled water as they feared the worst.
• It was optimistic to think she could save enough money for a car in six months, but she worked hard trying to achieve this goal nevertheless.
• Some environmentalists have a pessimistic view of the world’s ability to mitigate global warming and fear what will happen if leaders don’t make drastic changes.
• Despite the difficulties, many teachers are trying to remain optimistic while teaching remotely for the sake of their equally stressed students.

We’re optimistic that you will master the difference in now time.

Even the closest synonyms can share some differences, and without the antagonism. Just look at homemade vs. handmade, or psychic vs. medium.

Glass half full, or glass half empty? Looking on the bright side, or expecting the worst? Rose-colored glasses, or Murphy’s law? The words optimistic and pessimistic are opposites used in the context of people’s general outlooks or their sense of whether a situation will turn out positively or negatively.

In this article, we’ll define both words—as well as the related nouns optimism, optimist, pessimism, and pessimist—and provide examples to help you remember the difference. We might even help you recognize if you’re an optimist or a pessimist.

⚡ Quick summary

To be optimistic about a situation is to expect it to turn out in a good way. If you’re generally optimistic, you’re an optimist—you tend to look at things favorably. Pessimistic means the opposite: expecting a situation to turn out in a bad way or being a pessimist—always expecting the worst.

What does optimistic mean?

Optimistic means “taking a favorable view of events or conditions and expecting the most favorable outcome.”

A person can be optimistic about a particular situation, as in I’m feeling optimistic about my chances of getting this job. A person can also be generally optimistic, as part of their personality—they’re always looking on the bright side and expecting things to work out for the best. Such a person can be called an optimist.

Optimism is a generally positive outlook—viewing the glass as half full. Plans, views, and other things can be described as optimistic to indicate that they reflect optimism. For example, you might say, Our most optimistic timeline involves finishing the project in just three months or The estimates proved to be too optimistic—profits were only half of what they were expected to be.

On a cloudy day, a person who’s being optimistic might say At least it hasn’t rained yet—and maybe it won’t rain at all. A generally optimistic person expects to win a coin flip.

What does pessimistic mean?

Pessimistic means “taking an unfavorable view of events or conditions and expecting an unfavorable outcome.” A person can be pessimistic about a specific situation, as in I’m pessimistic about our chances—I just don’t think there’s any way for us to win. If a person is pessimistic in general, they can be called a pessimist.

Some people might resist being labeled as pessimistic and instead argue that they are simply being realistic—basing their outlook on reality and what they think will actually happen, even if it sounds very negative.

Just like with optimistic, you can describe outlooks, assessments, plans, and other things as pessimistic, meaning that they indicate pessimism, which is a generally negative outlook—viewing the glass as half empty. Our most pessimistic timeline involves finishing the project a full year after the deadline or The estimates proved to be too pessimistic—losses were not nearly as bad as they were expected to be.

On a cloudy day, a person who’s being pessimistic might say It’s probably going to rain. A generally pessimistic person expects to lose a coin flip.

The outlook is good that you’ll learn the difference between rein and reign by visiting this article.

Where do optimistic and pessimistic come from?

The words optimism and pessimism are first recorded in the 1700s. Optimism ultimately comes from the Latin optimus, which means “best” and is the superlative form of the Latin bonus, meaning “good.” The word pessimism was modeled on optimism and is from the Latin pessimus, meaning “worst,” a superlative form of malus, meaning “bad.”

What is the difference between optimistic and pessimistic?

Optimistic, pessimistic, and their related words are all about different views of the same situation: being optimistic is seeing the glass as half full, and being pessimistic is seeing the glass as half empty.

Remember, an optimistic person expects good things to happen—maybe even an optimal outcome. A pessimistic person expects bad things to happen. The word pessimistic doesn’t have a nice, neat mnemonic to help you remember its meaning—which is exactly what a pessimistic person would expect.

Examples of pessimistic and optimistic used in a sentence

Let’s take a look at some examples of how optimistic and pessimistic are commonly used.

• Hakeem is always optimistic—no matter what the situation, he always expects things to turn out all right in the end.
• His speech was generally optimistic and mostly highlighted good news.
• Daisy’s pessimistic personality often led her to prepare for the worst.
• His pessimistic forecast for the industry predicted significant declines.
• While Quinn was usually optimistic about life, their recent bad luck made their outlook take a pessimistic turn.

An optimistic person expects all the best things to happen! Is it raining money yet? A pessimistic person is a downer. Who cares if it’s raining money? They’ll never get any.

Optimistic people see the best in the world. Optimistic ideas have been around for a while — Voltaire’s «Candide» (1759) mocked them thoroughly. Here’s an optimistic quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: «Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.» Here are some more recent examples from the news:

«It’s been so positive…He’s always optimistic, always hungry for the next one.» (Washington Times)

«It’s an optimistic assessment that clashes hard with the reality on the ground.» (Los Angeles Times)

Abandon all hope ye who enter here! A pessimistic person expects the worst in every situation. Doom and gloom rule a pessimistic attitude. In business, a pessimistic mood prevents people from investing. If you’re pessimistic, you see a beautiful waterfall and assume you’re going to die in it. Here are some examples of the word:

«Designed to cope with the most pessimistic nightmare of an apocalypse, a day spent here is not destined to be uplifting.» ( BBC)

«There has also been a smaller—yet still statistically significant—rise in the frequency of negative words, such as ‘disappointing’ and ‘pessimistic‘.» (Nature)

These words often show up together:

«And my personal philosophy is I’d rather be optimistic and wrong rather than pessimistic and right.» (Time)

«A higher life expectancy estimate is optimistic for the human condition, but pessimistic for the Social Security Trust Fund.» (New York Times)

Most people are a little of both, and you can certainly be optimistic — you just learned new words! Or pessimistic — you’ll probably just forget them, though. Sigh.