upbeat

/ˌʌpˈbit/

/əpˈbit/

If you tend to be cheerful and positive no matter what's going on, your friends probably describe you as upbeat. When your soccer coach wants to be encouraging, she gives the team an upbeat speech.

Need to cheer yourself up? Spend some time with an upbeat friend, watch an upbeat movie, or listen to some upbeat music. This informal adjective comes from the word's original musical meaning, "the beat of a bar at which the conductor's baton is in a raised position." Music writers in the 1940s used the slang phrase "on the upbeat" to mean "getting better." The "cheerful" meaning followed around 1947.

Definitions of upbeat

1. adjective

   pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic
   synonyms: cheerful, pollyannaish

   optimistic

   expecting the best in this best of all possible worlds
2. noun

   a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous
   “the town was finally on the upbeat after our recent troubles”

   synonyms: eudaemonia, eudaimonia, weal, welfare, well-being, wellbeing

   types:

   fool's paradise

   an illusory state of wellbeing

   health, wellness

   a healthy state of wellbeing free from disease

   type of:

   prosperity, successfulness

   the condition of prospering; having good fortune
3. noun

   an unaccented beat (especially the last beat of a measure)
   synonyms: offbeat

   type of:

   beat, musical rhythm, rhythm

   the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music