Definition:
: marked by the view that all is for the best in this best of possible worlds
About the Word:
Master Pangloss, the tutor for the titular character of Voltaire's novel Candide, was prone to making such pronouncements as "they, who assert that everything is right, do not express themselves correctly; they should say that everything is best."
The novel, a satire on the subject of philosophical optimism, is Voltaire's best-known work. In large part due to this popularity the fictional tutor has seen his name forever associated with unfettered and irrational optimism.
Example:
"He was quite disembarrassed of that Panglossian philosophy which had hitherto induced him to believe that the Earl of Fitz-pompey was the best of all possible uncles." — Benjamin Disraeli, The Young Duke, 1830
