as in idealism
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Recent Examples of meliorism
Under their malign sway, as cost-benefit analysis became codified in government bureaus and standards of jurisprudence, previously bold Democrats reduced their dreams for betterment to feeble meliorism.
—
Idrees Kahloon, The New Yorker, 16 May 2022
Goodhart reckons the positional nature of status — man’s envy plays a part in this puzzle, mind you — and the kind of economic meliorism that the center-left of his formative years applies to income inequality may fail to do the trick this time.
—Jorge González-Gallarza Hernández, National Review, 6 Dec. 2020
To its critics, this modesty and meliorism represent cowardice.
—Rosa Inocencio Smith, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2017
Idrees Kahloon, The New Yorker, 16 May 2022
Goodhart reckons the positional nature of status — man’s envy plays a part in this puzzle, mind you — and the kind of economic meliorism that the center-left of his formative years applies to income inequality may fail to do the trick this time.
—Jorge González-Gallarza Hernández, National Review, 6 Dec. 2020
To its critics, this modesty and meliorism represent cowardice.
—Rosa Inocencio Smith, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for meliorism
idealism
Noun
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But what Trump has always hated isn’t conflict but sacrifice, the notion that American power should ever be constrained by a veneer of idealism or care for global opinion.—
Michelle Goldberg,
Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2026
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On Heavenly’s last record, released in 1996, their daydreamy idealism had become more vulgar and concrete, and the instrumental backing had adopted a Britpop punchiness to match; however, the album was released just after drummer Mathew Fletcher’s death, leading to Heavenly’s abrupt dissolution.—
Jude Noel,
Pitchfork,
4 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Meliorism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/meliorism. Accessed 11 Mar. 2026.
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