glass-half-full

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Having an optimistic outlook, focusing on the positive aspect of a situation.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Có quan điểm lạc quan, tập trung vào mặt tích cực

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a glass containing half its volume of liquid
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She's a glass-half-full kind of person, always expecting good things to happen.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “glass-half-full” mean?

Having an optimistic outlook, focusing on the positive aspect of a situation. Literally: a glass containing half its volume of liquid

Is “glass-half-full” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.