Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Cheerfully confident; optimistic.
- adjective At ease; accepting.
- adjective Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
- adjective Having the temperament and ruddy complexion formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
- adjective Of the color of blood; red.
- adjective Of a healthy reddish color; ruddy.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of blood; bloody.
- Bloodthirsty; bloody; sanguinary.
- Of the color of blood; red; ruddy: as, a sanguine complexion; the sanguine francolin, Ithaginis cruentatus; specifically, in heraldry, same as
murrey . - Abounding with blood; plethoric; characterized by fullness of habit: as, a sanguine habit of body.
- Characterized by an active and energetic circulation of the blood; having vitality; hence, vivacious; cheerful; hopeful; confident; ardent; hopefully inclined; habitually confiding: as, a sanguine temperament; to be sanguine of success. See
temperament . - Synonyms Lively, animated, enthusiastic.
- noun The color of blood; red; specifically, in heraldry, same as
murrey . - noun Bloodstone, with which cutlers stained the hilts of swords, etc.
- noun Anything of a blood-red color, as a garment.
- noun A drawing executed with red chalks.
- To stain with blood; ensanguine.
- To stain or varnish with a color like that of blood; redden.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To stain with blood; to impart the color of blood to; to ensanguine.
- noun Blood color; red.
- noun obsolete Anything of a blood-red color, as cloth.
- noun (Min.) Bloodstone.
- noun Red crayon. See the Note under
Crayon , 1. - adjective Having the color of blood; red.
- adjective Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood.
- adjective Warm; ardent.
- adjective Anticipating the best; cheerfully optimistic; not desponding; confident; full of hope.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Having the
colour ofblood ; red. - adjective obsolete, physiology Having a bodily constitution characterised by a preponderance of
blood over the other bodilyhumours , thought to be marked byirresponsible mirth ;indulgent inpleasure to theexclusion ofimportant matters. - adjective Characterized by
abundance and activecirculation of blood. - adjective Warm;
ardent . - adjective Anticipating the best; optimistic; not
despondent ;confident ; full ofhope . - noun Blood
colour ;red . - noun Anything of a
blood -red colour, ascloth . - noun
Bloodstone . - noun Red
crayon . See the Note undercrayon , 1. - verb To
stain with blood; to impart the colour of blood to; toensanguine .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a blood-red color
- adjective confidently optimistic and cheerful
- adjective inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Will they remain sanguine when excess reserves increase to $2 trillion?
The Fed Compounds Its Mistakes Allan H. Meltzer 2010
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If you're not familiar with these terms a sanguine is a naturally outgoing personality who can hold three conversations at once, doesn't like to be alone, is the life of every party and is often said to be a people person.
'People-ie' More Than Greenie, Hippy Or Any Other 'ie' Kylie Willison 2007
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If you're not familiar with these terms a sanguine is a naturally outgoing personality who can hold three conversations at once, doesn't like to be alone, is the life of every party and is often said to be a people person.
Archive 2007-09-01 Kylie Willison 2007
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One temperament is commonly called sanguine, meaning, literally, “from the blood.”
If I Really Believe, Why Do I Have These Doubts? Dr. Lynn Anderson 2000
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But there was no blank despair, and if any felt despondency they suppressed the expression of it, while by far the greatest number of those on board were actually animated, not by the loss itself, but by the accidental nature of the occurrence, to indulge in sanguine expectations of ultimate success.
The Breaking of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable on Board the Great Eastern 1865
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It is what artists call a sanguine, a drawing made with a crayon of red ocher that was much favored by Watteau, Boucher, and other artists in the eighteenth century.
Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008
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It is what artists call a sanguine, a drawing made with a crayon of red ocher that was much favored by Watteau, Boucher, and other artists in the eighteenth century.
Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008
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Its temperament seems to be sanguine, which is just the opposite of the nervous-combative hooded and spectacled cobra species.
The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals A Book of Personal Observations William Temple Hornaday 1895
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Jackson Wells smiled as he recalled his sanguine partner's idea of a treasure-trove concealed and stuffed in the crevices of this tenement, already so palpably picked clean by those wholesome scavengers of
Openings in the Old Trail Bret Harte 1869
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In general, top IMF officials were "sanguine" about the growing complexity and dispersion of mortgage-related investments and "praised the United States for its light-touch regulation and supervision that permitted the rapid financial innovation that ultimately contributed to the problems in the financial system."
Watchdog: IMF's trust in markets, regulators blocked sight of financial crisis Howard Schneider 2011
inkhorn commented on the word sanguine
This is odd - this word seems have been added to 17 Wordie lists in the last week, but it is a the bottom of the list, not the top.
December 20, 2006
seanahan commented on the word sanguine
Jon Stewart mispronounced this one pretty badly.
December 21, 2006
ellenw commented on the word sanguine
"Hopeful. Plus, point of interest, it also means 'bloody.'"
April 12, 2007
mollusque commented on the word sanguine
'God! what a beauty! what a lovely charming thing!' he exclaimed. 'Haven't they raised it on snails and sour milk, Nelly? Oh damn my soul! but that's worse than I expected--and the devil knows I was not sanguine!'
--Emily Brontë, 1847, Wuthering Heights
November 11, 2007
victoriapl commented on the word sanguine
the color of blood.
December 1, 2007
renumeratedfrog commented on the word sanguine
This word is etymologically closely related to the word sanguinary which means "bloodthirsty".
August 21, 2008
frindley commented on the word sanguine
This, with sepia, is a key colour in classical drawing.
September 7, 2008
yarb commented on the word sanguine
I'm amazed this has so many listings. What's the appeal??
June 1, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word sanguine
Blood.
Also, it's just a pretentious word, I think—like the S word. (I don't like or dislike it much, myself.)
June 1, 2009
rolig commented on the word sanguine
Oh, I love this word, just like I love all the words still in use that hark back to medieval concepts about the mind-body-elements-planets relationships: bilious, choleric, melancholic, humorous, saturnine, jovial, mercurial, etc. And I don't think sanguine is pretentious when it's used to mean "optimistic, positive, cheerful, unruffled". Its synonyms don't really convey so directly the same sense that the attitude so discribed relates to something inherent in a person's character. I also like the fact that it comes from a word for "blood" and that it has as a much darker, tragic cousin in the word sanguinary.
June 1, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word sanguine
Hm. Maybe you've put your finger on why I don't like it much, though I'm enthusiastic about other words that call to mind the Middle Ages: this one doesn't sound at all like what it means. When I look at sanguinary, and then sanguine, I never get the meaning right. *ponders*
Isn't there a song, "Begin the Sanguine"? There should be.
June 1, 2009
rolig commented on the word sanguine
How cultures interpret words like this is fascinating. In French, sangfroid and, in Russian, хладнокровие (khladnokroviye) are good qualities in a person, both conveying the sense of "cool-headedness"; in English, however, cold-bloodedness is definitely not something you want to encounter. I tend to associate sanguine with sangfroid. I pronounce the word in a way that almost rhymes with penguin (another cool character), so Cole Porter would have to change his tune to make this word fit for me.
June 1, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word sanguine
Maybe... "Sangfroid the Sanguine." Although sangfroid is not a verb. More's the pity. *thinking about how one might sangfroid if one chose to*
June 1, 2009
rolig commented on the word sanguine
Ha! "Sangfroid the Sanguine" sounds like the name of one of CharlesFerdinand's kings: "In the days of Sangfroid the Sanguine, the country remained at peace for none of his neighbors was able to provoke him to war."
June 3, 2009
reesetee commented on the word sanguine
Rolig, well put--I like this word for similar reasons.
Also, henceforth I'd like to be called Sangfroid the Sanguine.
June 3, 2009
lweber5@scf.edu commented on the word sanguine
A sanguine complexion. - Websters Dictionary pg.71
September 24, 2010
Share commented on the word sanguine
I don't like this word at all, it doesn't sound like what it means and I use optimistic so who needs it? I noticed 19th century people like US Grant used it alot, maybe before optimistic became popular. I always have to look it up when I read it and am pretty sure the first definition I read of it said it meant something amounting to indifferent or ok with things, not optimistic. Too complicated, too Latin and has no zero subjective meaning.
May 10, 2012