meliorism

From Latin melior (“better”) +‎ -ism. Reportedly coined by British author George Eliot in her letters, published in 1877.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːlɪəɹɪz(ə)m/

meliorism (countable and uncountable, plural meliorisms)

1. The view or doctrine that the world can be improved through human effort (often understood as an intermediate outlook between optimism and pessimism). [from 19th c.]
   • 1966 May 6, "Forever Beginning," Time:

     At the convention, the official mood was traditional Methodist meliorism.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, page 371:

     Enclaves of meritocratic and virtuous sociability, the lodges exuded […] a thoroughgoing meliorism.

• meliorist
• melioristic
• melioristically

• “meliorism” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “meliorism” in Microsoft's Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition (2007)
• "meliorism" at Rhymezone (Datamuse, 2006)
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
• Dictionary of Philosophy, Dagobert D. Runes (editor), Philosophical Library, 1962; see: "Meliorism" by Archie J. Bahm, page 195