optimism
/ˈɑptɪmɪzəm/noun
optimism is spelled O-P-T-I-M-I-S-M. The wrong spelling people search most is optomism: about 50 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 40 of all searches for the word. Optimism is a noun meaning “A tendency to expect the best, or at least, a favourable outcome”. The plural of optimism is optimisms.
How many letters and syllables are in optimism?
| Letters | 8: O-P-T-I-M-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, optomism, about 50 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell optimism?
Optimism is spelled O-P-T-I-M-I-S-M. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 40 of the searches for optimism in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is optimism?
Optimism appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce optimism?
- US /ˈɑptɪmɪzəm/
- UK /ˈɒptɪmɪzəm/
Optimism has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-optimism.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of optimism
- optimisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does optimism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A tendency to expect the best, or at least, a favourable outcome.
I love her youth, her beauty and above all her optimism that everything will turn out fine.
- 2
The doctrine that this world is the best of all possible worlds.
- 3
The belief that good will eventually triumph over evil.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Optimism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a tendency to expect the best:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | optimisme |
| German | Optimismus, Zuversicht |
| Portuguese | otimismo |
| Spanish | optimismo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does optimism come from?
From French optimisme, equivalent to Latin optimus + -ism.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).