pollyanna
pollyanna Lexical Profile
pollyanna Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person characterized by irrepressible, excessive, or foolishly blind optimism, tending to find good in everything despite contrary evidence.
"Critics dismissed the analyst as a naive Pollyanna who refused to acknowledge the company's mounting debts."
American A holiday gift exchange in which participants are randomly assigned a person to give a gift to, keeping their identity secret (especially in the Philadelphia and Delaware Valley region).
"Everyone in the office drew names from a hat for the annual holiday Pollyanna."
• adjective
Unrealistically, blindly, or excessively optimistic.
"The committee rejected his Pollyanna forecast, noting that it ignored several major economic risks."
Word Nuance & Usage
Although referring to optimism, 'Pollyanna' carries a distinctly mildly pejorative connotation, implying that someone's cheerfulness is naive, blind to reality, or foolishly excessive.
• Rhymes for pollyanna
Word Origin & Etymology
Named after Pollyanna Whittier, the orphaned heroine of Eleanor H. Porter's 1913 children's novel 'Pollyanna', who played the 'glad game' to find something to be happy about in every situation.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.