sanguine
American Heritage Dictionary:
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san·guine
(săng'gwĭn) 
adj.
sanguineness san'guine·ness or san·guin'i·ty n.
adj.
- Of the color of blood; red.
- Of a healthy reddish color; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.
- Archaic.
- Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
- Having the temperament and ruddy complexion formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
- Cheerfully confident; optimistic.
[Middle English, from Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus, from sanguis, sanguin-, blood.]
sanguinely san'guine·ly adv.sanguineness san'guine·ness or san·guin'i·ty n.
WORD HISTORY The similarity in form between sanguine, "cheerfully optimistic," and sanguinary, "bloodthirsty," may prompt one to wonder how they have come to have such different meanings. The explanation lies in medieval physiology with its notion of the four humors or bodily fluids (blood, bile, phlegm, and black bile). The relative proportions of these fluids was thought to determine a person's temperament. If blood was the predominant humor, one had a ruddy face and a disposition marked by courage, hope, and a readiness to fall in love. Such a temperament was called sanguine, the Middle English ancestor of our word sanguine. The source of the Middle English word was Old French sanguin, itself from Latin sanguineus. Both the Old French and Latin words meant "bloody," "blood-colored," Old French sanguin having the sense "sanguine in temperament" as well. Latin sanguineus was in turn derived from sanguis, "blood," just as English sanguinary is. The English adjective sanguine, first recorded in Middle English before 1350, continues to refer to the cheerfulness and optimism that accompanied a sanguine temperament but no longer has any direct reference to medieval physiology.
Roget's Thesaurus:
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sanguine
adjective
- Of a healthy reddish color: blooming, florid, flush, flushed, full-blooded, glowing, rosy, rubicund, ruddy. See colors/colorless.
- Expecting a favorable outcome or dwelling on hopeful aspects: optimistic, Panglossian, roseate, rose-colored, rosy. Informal upbeat. Idioms: looking on the bright side, looking through rose-colored glasses. See hope/despair.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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sanguine
adj
Definition: happy
Antonyms: depressed, gloomy, pessimistic, sad, unhappy
adj
Definition: reddish, flushed
Antonyms: pale, pallid, sallow
Word Tutor:
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sanguine
IN BRIEF: Light-hearted, lively; reddish, the color of blood.
They act as if they supposed that to be very sanguine about the general improvement of mankind is a virtue that relieves them from taking trouble about any improvement in particular.
— John, Lord Morley (1838-1923), English statesman and writer.
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Mosby's Dental Dictionary:
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sanguine
adj
1. pertaining to an abundant and active blood circulation, ruddy complexion. n 2. an attitude full of vitality and confidence.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'sanguine'
- Graphic Arts - sanguine: reddish chalk or pastel for drawing
- Happy, Playful, Optimistic, or Elated
See crossword solutions for the clue Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Sanguine (multiple meanings)
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Look up sanguine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Sanguine is a red earth pigment used in the manufacture of artists chalks or pastels, first used by Renaissance artists.
Sanguine (ultimately from Latin sanguineus "bloody, of blood"), may also refer to:
- Sanguine, one of the four humors in pre-modern medicine
- Sanguine, a personality type, one of the Four Temperaments
- Sanguine (band), a four piece alt-metal band
- Sanguine (heraldry), a tincture in heraldry
- Sanguine (transmitter), an ELF antenna of the US Navy
- HMS Sanguine (P266), an S class submarine
- Sanguine Productions, a company
- The Sanguine Fan, a ballet performance
- Project Sanguine, a project to research a system for communicating with submarines using extremely long radio waves
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This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Sanguine
Dansk (Danish)
adj. - blodrød, rødmosset, optimistisk, sangvinsk
n. - blodrød farve, rødkridt
Nederlands (Dutch)
optimistisch, blozend (van gezondheid), driftig, vurig, rood (vet)krijt
Français (French)
adj. - optimiste, sanguin
n. - optimisme
Deutsch (German)
adj. - zuversichtlich, hoffnungsvoll, heiter, blühend, rötlich, rot, blutig
n. - Rötelstift
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - αισιόδοξος, ελπιδοφόρος, αιματώδης, αιματόχρωμος
Italiano (Italian)
ottimistico
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - sanguineo, animado, cordial
Русский (Russian)
сангина, рисунок, сделанный сангиной, сангвинический, жизнерадостный, оптимистический, румяный, цветущий, кровавый, кровожадный
Español (Spanish)
adj. - optimista, sanguíneo, sanguinario, sangriento, de color de sangre, colorado, rubicundo, vehemente
n. - sanguina
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - blodröd, blod-, sangvinisk, optimistisk, hoppfull, rödblommig, blomstrande
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
怀着希望的, 血色好的, 红润的, 乐观的, 血红的, 血红色, 红腊笔
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 懷著希望的, 血色好的, 紅潤的, 樂觀的, 血紅的
n. - 血紅色, 紅臘筆
한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 자신감이 넘치는, 다혈질의, 피비린내 나는
n. - 적자색, 낙천성, 붉은 분필
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 快活な, 楽天的な, 血色のよい
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) دموي, أحمر قاني
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - אופטימי, מלא-תקווה, בעל נטייה מיוחדת לאהבה, אדום, סמוק
n. - צבע אדום כדם, גיר אדום
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Sanguine (disambiguation).
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