meliorism means the view or doctrine that the world can be improved through human effort (often understood as an intermediate outlook between optimism and pessimism). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
MELIORISM — [Noun] The doctrine that the world can be improved through specific, sustained human effort. From the Latin *melior* ("better") and the English suffix *-ism*, denoting a doctrine or principle; reportedly coined by author George Eliot in 1877. Unlike optimism, a passive faith in inherent progress, or pessimism, a resigned acceptance of decline, meliorism is an active verb disguised as a noun. It is the volunteer planting an oak sapling on degraded land, the patient sanding of a rough-hewn bench until it gleams, and the stubborn act of darning a sock because the fabric is worth preserving—a faith built not on destiny, but on the incremental betterment wrought by work.
noun
- The view or doctrine that the world can be improved through human effort (often understood as an intermediate outlook between optimism and pessimism).“At the convention, the official mood was traditional Methodist meliorism.”