pessoptimist
UK/pɛsˈɒptɪmɪst/US/pɛsˈɑptɪmɪst/
pessoptimist noun: a person who possesses elements of both pessimism and optimism.
Noun
pessoptimist (plural pessoptimists)
- A person who possesses elements of both pessimism and optimism.
- The paradoxical view of the dynamics of the situation explains the meaning of the word “pessoptimist,” coined from the partial merger of “optimist” and “pessimist.”2001, Emile Habibi, translated by Trevor LeGassick, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist, Interlink Books, →ISBN, page xiii
- To put it simply, China is a pessoptimist nation. To understand China’s glowing optimism, we need to understand its enduring pessimism, and vice versa.2010, William A. Callahan, China: The Pessoptimist Nation, Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 9
Forms of pessoptimist
| plural | pessoptimists |
|---|
Origin of pessoptimist
Blend of pessimist + optimist, coined by British translator Trevor LeGassick in his 1985 translation of Emile Habibi's 1974 Arabic-language novel The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist.
Questions about pessoptimist
- What does pessoptimist mean?
- Pessoptimist means a person who possesses elements of both pessimism and optimism.
- What part of speech is pessoptimist?
- Pessoptimist is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pessoptimist?
- Pessoptimist is pronounced /pɛsˈɑptɪmɪst/ (US).
- What is the plural of pessoptimist?
- The plural of pessoptimist is pessoptimists.
Words near pessoptimist in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pessoptimist (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “pessoptimist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pessoptimist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.