Sanguine is a formal adjective. It means hopeful or confident about what will happen. It can describe a person, group, view, or outlook. Trouble can make that hope stand out, but trouble is not required.
The examples show problems that are stated or left unstated. They also show ways to compare or limit the hope.
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Learn "Sanguine" in depth →The setback stated outright
Project update: "Management remains sanguine about the revised timeline, despite the two-week slip on the integration work."
Deal note: "The team is sanguine about the partnership closing, even after the counterpart's legal team raised last-minute questions."
Executive summary: "We are sanguine about demand recovering in the second half, notwithstanding a soft first quarter."
The risk is clear in each case. The speaker still expects a good result.
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Start the "Sanguine" learning path →The setback left implicit
Analyst commentary: "Investors seem sanguine about the sector" -- said right after a report on falling margins, where the difficulty doesn't need restating because everyone in the room already knows it.
Status update: "The suppliers took a sanguine view of the schedule" -- in a message that opened with news of a delayed shipment; the contrast is doing its work without being spelled out again.
Here, earlier context supplies the risk. The sentence does not need to repeat it.
Qualified and comparative forms
Board note: "Leadership is less sanguine about the second half than they were in January."
Client email: "We're broadly sanguine about the recovery, though not entirely -- two of the four regions are still trailing plan."
Internal memo: "The suppliers are not as sanguine about the schedule as the project team is."
These forms lower or limit the level of hope. They do not reverse the core meaning.
Reporting someone else's outlook without endorsing it
Third-person report: "The board remains sanguine about the acquisition" -- notice this doesn't say the writer agrees. It reports a position, not a fact.
What these examples have in common
Each example shows or hints at a problem. The word then describes a hopeful person, group, position, or view. It does not normally describe a cash balance or completed result by itself. Context should show whose view it represents.
Reports about other people also create distance. Saying that someone "remains sanguine" gives their view. It does not show that the writer agrees.
The contrast helps explain why the word fits. It reports a view, not a sure result.
Practice scenarios
Practice using sanguine in situations like:
- reporting continued optimism after a project setback
- describing another party's outlook about a deal without endorsing it
- writing a qualified or comparative outlook ("less sanguine," "not as sanguine")
Useful practice phrases:
- "Management remains sanguine about [X], despite [setback]."
- "The team is less sanguine about [X] than they were in [earlier period]."
- "[Party] took a sanguine view of [situation]" (reporting without endorsing).
Try it yourself
The word means hopeful or confident. A nearby difficulty often makes that outlook more striking.
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