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A few months ago my professor mentioned a word that essentially went beyond being optimistic... He said that optimistic people were simply hopeful, but this adjective that he mentioned meant someone who takes action to make the change that they envision.

I wrote down the word down as meadialistic (that was clearly wrong) I tried to google so many different ways it could be spelled, but I think I was so off in the spelling that I won't be able to find the answer on my own... Any help would be appreciated

thank you!

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    Idealistic? "someone who believes that very good things can be achieved, often when this does not seem likely to others", according to CD
    – JJJ
    Mar 18, 2018 at 11:57
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    Did you check a thesaurus?
    – Mitch
    Mar 18, 2018 at 13:30
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    Utopian pollyanna? But my vote is for idealistic or idealist.
    – DJohnson
    Mar 18, 2018 at 13:34
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    "A super-optimistic history ..." link.
    – Nigel J
    Mar 18, 2018 at 15:08
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    agree with comments - super optimistic
    – lbf
    Mar 18, 2018 at 18:42

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Perhaps the answer is bullish. Optimism implies hope that something will turn out for the best without actually implementing action based on that belief, whereas bullish implies that one is hopeful/confident to the point that they will place their money (take definitive action) based on that level of hope/confidence.

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proactive

The OP says:

....this adjective that he mentioned meant someone who takes action to make the change that they envision.

Proactive, as defined by Merriam Webster

acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes

M-W gives several examples, of which this one is the most appropriate to the professor's definition:

Example: There is an urgent need to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to health. per kristian hong, STAT, "The 1 percent will continue to get healthier. The 99 percent should, too," 24 Apr. 2018

The person who develops proactive policies and approaches to deliver health care effectively and efficiently is beyond optimistic. She doesn't hope that "they" will solve the problem, but is getting her hands dirty (perhaps literally) to advance a solution herself.

The problem with this answer as an answer to the OP's question is that proactive is not at all an uncommon word, but is often used.

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This is super late, I can unfortunately not answer your question about "meadialistic" but there is a word that goes beyond optimism- kind of an expression. Panglossian. This is the idea, according to webster-merriam dictionary, that "all is for the best in this best of possible worlds", and is "excessively optimistic".

I've used this a few times in my writing, hope it helps.

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