adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a confident/optimistic/relaxed etc mood
▪ At the beginning of the negotiations, he was in a confident mood.
a positive/optimistic outlook
▪ Despite her health problems, she has a positive outlook.
optimistic (=expecting good things to happen)
▪ In his speech, the President gave an optimistic forecast for the economy.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
cautiously
▪ For 1996, however, analysts are cautiously optimistic.
▪ She was weak, but comfortable and I was cautiously optimistic.
▪ But you are cautiously optimistic because of the constructive atmosphere in which the talks took place.
▪ After the meeting, team members felt cautiously optimistic.
▪ The student was cautiously optimistic for the future.
▪ The ideology of environmentalism was cautiously optimistic about social amelioration and human progress.
▪ Moreover, he is cautiously optimistic about the future of societies, claiming there has been a recent rekindling of interest.
▪ But I am cautiously optimistic about the atmosphere in which the talks were conducted.
generally
▪ The generally optimistic tenor of this debate provides a revealing comparison with those public views examined for the earlier period.
▪ Although generally optimistic, Dan knew that more challenges lay ahead.
▪ I was generally optimistic but emphasised the potential for serious attacks.
▪ The report painted a generally optimistic picture of Britain continuing to recover from the worst recession since 1945.
less
▪ Others were less optimistic, pointing out that population and industrial growth would offset the improvements being made.
▪ The study also found that female investors tended to be less optimistic than men.
▪ However, the picture is less optimistic when the figures are looked at a little more closely.
▪ As yet nobody knows, but I am no less optimistic now than I was in those heady days at Treasury.
▪ Specialists on Indochina were considerably less optimistic during the early days of the Truman administration.
▪ Some predicted modest increases, but others were less optimistic.
more
▪ Labour partisans were consistently very much more optimistic than Conservatives about the Labour Party's chances of victory.
▪ Generation X, best known for its pierced bodies and jaded outlook, is more optimistic about Wall Street than previous generations.
▪ The rising generation of students were more optimistic about the future and did not carry the emotional burdens of the Cultural Revolution.
▪ School-to-work can engage young people in career planning and make them more optimistic about the future.
▪ A more optimistic note on house prices has been struck by big builders Wimpey.
▪ The builders might have done even better last year had buyers been more optimistic.
▪ If he had been admitted sooner, I should have been more optimistic.
▪ State officials are much more optimistic about the prospects for successfully tracking recipients.
most
▪ Even student teachers, who might reasonably be expected to be the least jaundiced and most optimistic informants, aren't happy.
▪ So far, sales are beating even the most optimistic analysts' projections.
▪ This is the most optimistic view of the future.
▪ But even the most optimistic experts are not overly optimistic.
▪ The most optimistic forecast severely reduced activity in residential property; others expected static house sales until the end of the year.
▪ Even the most optimistic specialists predicted moderate disruptions: Some cities would certainly lose power.
▪ This sector was the most optimistic about the near-term outlook, expecting much stronger sales in April.
▪ Under the most optimistic scenarios, it will take 20 years to dispose of the weapons currently viewed as excess.
over
▪ Certainly a further ten flying within the next two years is not an over optimistic estimate.
▪ This has proved to be over optimistic as Haymarket was forced to withdraw from the purchase after a key investor pulled out.
overly
▪ But this must be a cautious and overly optimistic conclusion.
▪ And the media bought the overly optimistic pronouncements without questions.
▪ This account of science is indeed overly optimistic but at the same time limited.
▪ As it turns out, some of these dreams were overly optimistic.
▪ But even the most optimistic experts are not overly optimistic.
▪ Shugart was sued by Lerach the first time for supposedly expressing overly optimistic views to shareholders.
▪ Given that the quarterback will be 41 at the time, that prediction seems overly optimistic.
▪ Others said that that scenario might be overly optimistic.
so
▪ I did not feel so optimistic.
▪ Forty-six-year-old Sandy Koicuba is not so optimistic.
▪ But not all of us feel so optimistic about the prospect of aloneness.
too
▪ Others qualified to judge have however found this re-reading too optimistic.
▪ He complained bitterly after being surprised by Pat Buchanan in an early primary about a pollster whose predictions had been too optimistic.
▪ But don't be too optimistic and don't imagine that your advice to your daughter will be acceptable.
▪ That was a little too optimistic, it turned out.
▪ Even this may be too optimistic.
▪ But do not be too optimistic, ever.
▪ With the president in his present mood it is probably too optimistic to expect any improvement until after next year's election.
▪ They hope to close the deal by year-end, but that may be too optimistic.
very
▪ In this case, the construction timetable proved wrong, as did very optimistic forecasts concerning the rates of inflation and interest.
▪ No one except Guks could have been very optimistic.
▪ It was a very optimistic year for me.
▪ In a normal situation, I would be very optimistic.
▪ I was not very optimistic about the submarine and neither was Eric.
▪ I am very optimistic and excited.
▪ It was very mild, though, and times were really very good and very optimistic.
▪ Boeing set very optimistic performance goals for the Corinth facility when it was established.
wildly
▪ This is generally held to be wildly optimistic, and in some quarters, an impossible timescale.
▪ The figures are wildly optimistic, and could only have been extrapolated from a short trial of about 10 operations.
▪ If this figure proves wildly optimistic, Bill Clinton will either have to propose more cuts or spend more money.
▪ Recent surveys show previous estimates of whale numbers to be wildly optimistic.
▪ Critics argued that these estimates were wildly optimistic or that the original figures were far too low.
▪ The figures were wildly optimistic, although the real events were dramatic enough in themselves.
▪ For another, it assumed a stability in the capitalist system which, then and since, seemed wildly optimistic.
■ NOUN
forecast
▪ In this case, the construction timetable proved wrong, as did very optimistic forecasts concerning the rates of inflation and interest.
▪ The most optimistic forecast severely reduced activity in residential property; others expected static house sales until the end of the year.
▪ The results were wildly ahead of the Democrats' most optimistic forecasts.
mood
▪ And Dexter tried to calm his faint resentment against her for casting a shadow over his optimistic mood.
▪ The stock market reflected the more optimistic mood, with the FTSE-100 index closing up 18.2 at 2,400.9.
note
▪ Others, even during the 1950s, adopted a more optimistic note.
▪ The film ends on an optimistic note.
▪ Dealers would repeat this parrot fashion in the same optimistic note that the director had used on them.
▪ Carolyn Henderson signs off her diary on an optimistic note for his future.
▪ A more optimistic note on house prices has been struck by big builders Wimpey.
▪ The decade could hardly have ended on a more optimistic note.
▪ Maurice Paterson concluded on an optimistic note with references to the many new faces at the sales support conference.
▪ But one of the region's major employers Rover is beginning to sound an optimistic note.
outlook
▪ That's the optimistic outlook of Bordon businessman Philip Voice, who says he's never had it so good.
▪ These facts account for a more optimistic outlook of potential supply given in the 1981 report.
view
▪ While this is an optimistic view the necessary conditions of teaching and length of time are not often available.
▪ Shugart was sued by Lerach the first time for supposedly expressing overly optimistic views to shareholders.
▪ The formula of the bookstall blockbuster is only too persuasive, offering an optimistic view of social dangers and confusions.
▪ Few anthropologists share this optimistic view and I certainly do not believe in witchcraft.
▪ This is the most optimistic view of the future.
▪ Theirs is an essentially optimistic view of human nature, one which stresses cooperation, fraternity, egalitarianism.
▪ Essentially this was based on optimistic views about social progress and economic growth.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(make) encouraging/optimistic etc noises (about sth)
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Although his lawyers were optimistic, they couldn't be sure about the final outcome of the trial.
▪ an optimistic economic forecast
▪ Are you still optimistic that the climbers can be rescued?
▪ I'm pretty optimistic about our chances of winning here today.
▪ I am very optimistic about the future of our company.
▪ In spite of all her problems she manages to remain optimistic.
▪ The company was overly optimistic in its sale projections.
▪ The Democrats went into this election in an optimistic mood.
▪ The patient is still in a critical condition but doctors say they are cautiously optimistic that he will make a full recovery.
▪ We are cautiously optimistic that the trade deal will go through.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But am I optimistic that things will change?
▪ But I feel even more optimistic about the future of our world now than I did then.
▪ Generation X, best known for its pierced bodies and jaded outlook, is more optimistic about Wall Street than previous generations.
▪ He may be judged excessively optimistic, however, if not utterly desperate, in seeking the votes of leading opposition politicians.
▪ I got optimistic about making music again through my friends down there, like Nic.
▪ The builders might have done even better last year had buyers been more optimistic.