meliorism

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 4, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>meliorism</strong> &#149; \MEE-lee-uh-riz-um\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> the belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"<em>Meliorism</em> is that comfortable midway point between pessimism and optimism, wherein its possessor conceives of her actions as capable of bringing about a better future." — <a href="https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/will-self-brutalism-modern-architecture-britain#:~:text=The%20second%20was%20what%20Saumarez,bringing%20about%20a%20better%20future.&amp;text=To%20call%20the%20planners'%20attitude,a%20little%20like%20special%20pleading.">Will Self, <em>Prospect</em>, 12 July 2019</a></p> <p>"An old truism holds that the pessimist sees the glass as half-empty while the optimist sees it as half-full. But active and engaged people don't bother to measure the contents of their cups. They savor what they've got, drink it down, then go looking for a refill. One name for this approach is <em>meliorism</em>. Meliorists want to make things better—to ameliorate them." — <a href="https://www.fresnobee.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/andrew-fiala/article183938506.html">Andrew Fiala, <em>The Fresno (California) Bee</em>, 10 Nov. 2017</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>In 1877, British novelist George Eliot believed she had coined <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meliorist">meliorist</a></em> when she wrote, "I don't know that I ever heard anybody use the word 'meliorist' except myself." Her contemporaries credited her with coining both <em>meliorist</em> and <em>meliorism</em>, and one of her letters contains an early documented use of <em>meliorism</em>; however, there is evidence that <em>meliorist</em> had been aro