Dictionary

Pollyannish en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English Pollyanna Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English Pollyannish From Pollyanna + -ish.

Meanings

1. (derogatory) irrepressibly or excessively optimistic; capable of seeing good in anyone
   • She insisted: "Look, the House is not very different from when I was there. You have to have some faith in the governing majority, which I do, because I have a lot of respect for members on both sides of the aisle to do what’s best for the American people. And that is not some pollyannish thing. I know them." 2023 June 1, David Smith, quoting Shalanda Young, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, “Apostle of bipartisanship: why US debt ceiling deal was a victory for Joe Biden”, in The Guardian:
   • […] what we've been waiting for so long: a positive but never Pollyanish play about gays leading lives which are neither some bizarre caricature taken from heterosexual fantasy nor even more nuclear and apple-pie normal than any straight lives anyone has ever heard of. 1981 December 12, Andrea F. Loewenstein, “Gay Theatre Verité”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 21, page 10:

Forms