Meliorism

Meliorism is a noun that refers to the belief that the world tends to improve. Our word of the day is believed to have been been first coined by 19th century novelist George Elliot. It is derived from the Latin word melior (MAY lee or) which means ‘better,’ and is a distant relative to words like ‘ameliorate.’ Connie’s constant meliorism can become grating after a while. Don’t get me wrong, I tend to be an optimist and a believer in the human spirit, but her belief that the world tends to improve is just plain naive.