Pangloss

 
Pronunciation: /ˈpaŋglɒs/

noun

  • a person who is optimistic regardless of the circumstances: as factories moved out of the US in the 1970s, the Panglosses of the day called it progress

Derivatives

Panglossian

adjective

Origin:

late 18th century: from the name of the tutor and philosopher in Voltaire's Candide (1759)