I have been using this word wrongly

[puppydisaster]

For my whole adult life I thought "sanguine" meant laid-back, chilled out, resigned to what fate would dole out.

As in "I used to get stressed about exams but I'm more sanguine now I'm older".

I found out this week that "sanguine" means optimistic! So obviously the above sentence still makes sense but not how I intended it.

What on earth is the word I want to use?

I rarely see "ambivalent" used correctly.

also 'phased' and 'fazed' ........ when posters say they're not phased by something (drives me batty! 😬)
As a verb, phase is most often followed by in or out. To phase something in means to introduce something little by little
faze is generally used only as a verb, meaning “to daunt or disconcert.”

What? Where have you seen it translated as that?

Me too OP, I thought sanguine meant relaxed, in a Nigel Havers kind of way.

'Enervate' is one I get wrong a lot, I can never remember if it means energise, or drain of energy.

It’s ‘free rein’ (as in a horse) not ‘free reign’

Enervate is easier if you remember that it splits apart as e-nervate (not en-ervate).

"E-" has the same meaning as a prefix as ex-, with meanings around "taking out" or "removing", whereas "en-" as a prefix often has the same kind of meanings as "in-", with meanings around "being/putting in" or "adding".

I'd guess the reason it messes with your head is that it's not immediately obvious whether the word should be split with the n as part of the prefix or as part of the main word, and the pronunciation can mislead you on that front. As long as you remember it comes from nerve, you'll always be able to remember that it's e-nervate, and therefore is about removing something, or something leaving something.

I hope that doesn't come across as patronising; splitting them apart is the way I always try to make meanings of words that I find difficult to remember stick in my head.

Well you're kind of right both times - the definition is "optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation" so it does have to do with acceptance too

Totally agree

I had no idea that discrete was a word in it's own right and not a misspelling of discreet. Every day's a school day.

I thought the same of sanguine as the OP as well.
I didn't realise that I was so ignorant.

I used "renumeration" for years, as it made much more sense in the context of numbers & salaries than "remuneration"

Me too!

And OP I thought the same as you

Can it not mean l
optimistic to the point of being oblivious or naive?

Re vindicate, are you thinking of vitiate?

People often say they are jealous when they mean envious.

I thought the same as you OP. I aways thought it meant chilled

@puppydisaster Are you using the word wrongly, rightly? 😂

@puppydisaster are you using the word wrongly, rightly? 😂

Aquiline (as in nose) - I always thought it mean sort of narrow and elegant and straight and actually it means curved, like a big honking Roman nose!

all those heroines with aquiline noses I imagined completely wrong!

Aquiline (as in nose) - I always thought it mean sort of narrow and elegant and straight and actually it means curved, like a big honking Roman nose!

all those heroines with aquiline noses I imagined completely wrong!

Aquiline (as in nose) - I always thought it mean sort of narrow and elegant and straight and actually it means curved, like a big honking Roman nose!

all those heroines with aquiline noses I imagined completely wrong!

@puppydisaster

Are you confusing sanguine with languid?

I don't think so. I think of "languid" as lazy and "sanguine" as more "whatever will be will be" - resigned to any outcome.

Phlegmatic sounds the perfect fit but I don't think you can sound unlike an arsehole using it in everyday conversation.

I thought a sight for sore eyes meant the exact opposite until well into adulthood!

Sorry, can't resist repeating a Tim Vine one-liner...

conjunctivitis.com - that's a site for sore eyes

Me too! The other way makes so much more sense!

Great thread, OP!

I too thought sanguine meant laid back, accepting.

Maybe because we often associate 'san' as without, so perhaps we think 'without stress'?

Maybe pragmatic is an alternative?

I always have to remind myself that bucolic is a positive word. Sounds like it should be linked to the plague, certainly doesn't evoke beautiful countryside to me!