Meanings
nounmeliorism (countable and uncountable, plural meliorisms)
plural meliorisms
- countableuncountableThe view or doctrine that the world can be improved through human effort (often understood as an intermediate outlook between optimism and pessimism).First known use 19th c.
At the convention, the official mood was traditional Methodist meliorism.
1966 May 6, “Forever Beginning”, in Time1 more example
Enclaves of meritocratic and virtuous sociability, the lodges exuded […] a thoroughgoing meliorism.
2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 371
Origin
- Latinmelior“better”
- Englishmeliorism
From Latin melior (“better”) + -ism. Reportedly coined by British author George Eliot in her letters, published in 1877.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Russian мелиори́зм
- мелиори́зм (meliorízm)the view that the world can be improved through human effort
Spanish Mejorismo
- Mejorismothe view that the world can be improved through human effort
Cite this entry
APA
meliorism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meliorism
MLA
“meliorism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meliorism. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “meliorism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meliorism.
Source: meliorism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.