sanguine

¹san·guine

adjective \ˈsaŋ-gwən\

Definition of SANGUINE

1

: bloodred

2

a : consisting of or relating to blood

b : bloodthirsty, sanguinary

c of the complexion : ruddy

3

: having blood as the predominating bodily humor; also : having the bodily conformation and temperament held characteristic of such predominance and marked by sturdiness, high color, and cheerfulness

4

: confident, optimistic

— san·guine·ly adverb

— san·guine·ness \-gwən-nəs\ noun

— san·guin·i·ty \saŋ-ˈgwi-nə-tē, san-\ noun

Examples of SANGUINE

1. She has a sanguine disposition.
2. He is sanguine about the company's future.
3. He has been strangely sanguine about this, blandly ignoring the mounting evidence that dissident elements in the police are stirring trouble … —Allister Sparks, Washington Post, 9–15 Mar. 1992
4. How could a man of his caliber be this sanguine about a war we had barely begun to fight? He gave me the McNamara look, eyes focusing boldly through rimless glasses. “Every quantitative measurement we have shows that we're winning this war,” he said. —Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1988
5. Yet if there were sanguine expectations of war profits and unlimited booty from the Spanish empire, … those hopes were dramatically confounded … —Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches, 1988
6. He does not pretend to be sanguine about our prospects. History itself, he reminds us, provides few examples of cultures as debilitated as ours which were not destroyed by the very forces they set in motion. —Gertrude Himmelfarb, The New History and the Old, 1987

Origin of SANGUINE

Middle English sanguin, from Anglo-French, from Latin sanguineus, from sanguin-, sanguis (see sanguinary))

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to SANGUINE

Synonyms

bloody, bloody-minded, homicidal, murdering, murderous, sanguinary, bloodthirsty, sanguineous

Antonyms

ashen, ashy, doughy, livid, lurid, mealy, pale, paled, palish, pallid, pasty, peaked, peaky, sallow, sallowish, wan

Related Words

barbaric, barbarous, brutal, cold-blooded, cruel, heartless, inhumane, sadistic, savage, vicious, wanton; antagonistic, ferocious, fierce, gladiatorial, hostile; aggressive, assertive, bellicose, belligerent, combative, contentious, discordant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, scrappy, truculent, violent; merciless, pitiless, ruthless; bloodstained, fell, gory, grim; despiteful, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful

Near Antonyms

appeasing, conciliatory, disarming, dovish, mollifying, pacific, pacifying, peaceable, peaceful, peacemaking, placating, placative, placatory, propitiatory; unaggressive, unassertive; benign, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, humane, kind, kindhearted, sympathetic, tenderhearted; tender, warm, warmhearted; clement, lenient, merciful; affable, amiable, amicable, benevolent, gentle, kindly; submissive, surrendering, yielding

²san·guine

noun \ˈsaŋ-gwən\

Definition of SANGUINE

: a moderate to strong red

Origin of SANGUINE

(see ¹sanguine)

First Known Use: 15th century

Other Color Terms

argentine, cerise, cerulean, cyan, ocher, perse, puce, taupe, vermilion

san·guine

adjective \ˈsaŋ-gwən\   (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of SANGUINE

1

a : consisting of or relating to blood b of the complexion : ruddy

2

: having blood as the predominating bodily humor; also : having the bodily conformation and temperament held characteristic of such predominance and marked by sturdiness, high color, and cheerfulness