These words refer to positive frames of mind. An optimistic person is one who cheerfully expects things to work out all right in the future. This attitude may be well-grounded in fact or may merely represent a determined attempt to "look on the bright side of things" regardless of the evidence: unofficial polls that made him optimistic about the election’s outcome; still optimistic that they would be sighted, after more than a week adrift. The optimistic attitude may, in fact, be grounded in a fear of facing actualities, or in blind faith.

Sanguine emphasizes almost exclusively a habitual frame of mind that anticipates good fortune. The word can sometimes suggest an unfounded optimistic view that flies in the face of fact: so sanguine about the future that he didn’t bother to do the work necessary to realizing his goal. The word is more formal than optimistic .

Hopeful is not so strong as the foregoing words; a hopeful person may desire a specific outcome without being certain that it will come about as he hopes: still hopeful that some kind of miracle would occur, long after her optimistic mood had left her. Confident , by contrast, stresses conviction and certainty about the future; the word, furthermore, may imply a conviction based on a knowledge of the facts: first-quarter sales figures that made him confident his business venture would succeed. The word may also suggest self-assurance: a man who walked with a confident bearing.