outlook

/ˌaʊtˈlʊk/

/ˈaʊɾlʊk/

Other forms: outlooks

The word outlook describes a belief about the future. Your outlook on the awful present situation might make your outlook for the future turn grim.

The noun outlook can also mean the practice of looking out. A guard's outlook on the bank vault must stay watchful and attentive in case there's an attempted robbery. Your outlook on your first job out of college was one of promise and excitement. The word can also mean a characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will handle situations. A pessimistic outlook on life will make you see only the negative.

Definitions of outlook

1. noun

   a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations
   synonyms: mentality, mind-set, mindset

   type of:

   attitude, mental attitude

   a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways
2. noun

   belief about (or mental picture of) the future
   synonyms: expectation, prospect

   types:

   hope, promise

   grounds for feeling hopeful about the future

   foretaste

   an early limited awareness of something yet to occur

   possibility

   a future prospect or potential

   anticipation, expectancy

   something expected (as on the basis of a norm)

   apprehension, misgiving

   painful expectation

   rainbow

   an illusory hope

   life expectancy

   an expected time to live as calculated on the basis of statistical probabilities

   type of:

   belief

   any cognitive content held as true
3. noun

   the act of looking out
   synonyms: lookout

   type of:

   look, looking, looking at

   the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually