In the analogy “Optimist is to cheerful as pessimist is to ____”, which word best completes the relationship between attitude and mood?

Introduction / Context:
This verbal analogy question checks your understanding of personality traits and the typical emotional states associated with them. An optimist is a person who expects good outcomes and generally maintains a positive outlook. The word cheerful reflects this positive emotional state. In the same way, a pessimist tends to expect negative outcomes and usually has a darker, more negative mood. The task is to select the word that best reflects the emotional tone normally linked with pessimism.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The first pair is “optimist : cheerful”.
• The second pair is “pessimist : ____”.
• Options include various personality related adjectives.
• We assume standard dictionary meanings for all personality words.

Concept / Approach:
The relationship in the first pair is “type of person” to “typical emotional quality”. Optimists usually feel cheerful, hopeful, and positive. To mirror this, we must pair pessimist with the emotional state most commonly associated with negativity and low expectations. Among the options, gloomy most clearly expresses a sad, dark, or negative mood, which matches the outlook of a pessimist.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Step 1: Identify the meaning of optimist. An optimist expects good things and tends to see the brighter side of situations. Step 2: Check the second word in the first pair. Cheerful describes a happy, bright, and positive mood, which fits an optimist. Step 3: Define pessimist. A pessimist expects bad outcomes and focuses on possible failure or problems. Step 4: Look at the options and see which mood word matches a negative outlook. Gloomy describes a dark, depressed, or sad state. Step 5: Verify that gloomy is the most natural emotional counterpart for a pessimist compared with other options.

Verification / Alternative check:
Hopeful expresses expectation of good results, which contradicts pessimism. Helpful describes a cooperative or kind person, not specifically pessimistic or optimistic. Mean refers to being unkind rather than to expecting failure. Cheerful again reflects a positive, bright mood and belongs with optimism, not pessimism. Only gloomy consistently describes the low mood and negative expectations typical of a pessimist.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Hopeful and cheerful both suggest optimism and therefore are opposite in spirit to pessimism. Helpful talks about behaviour toward others, not about outlook on life. Mean is about cruelty, which is unrelated to the expectation of bad outcomes. None of these properly match the way pessimists usually feel. Gloomy alone captures the sad, negative state that mirrors cheerful in the original pair but on the opposite emotional side.

Common Pitfalls:
Some learners confuse pessimism with cruelty or rudeness and may choose mean. Others may guess randomly among negative sounding words without carefully matching the attitude to the mood. When solving analogy questions, always first identify the exact relationship in the given pair such as synonym, antonym, cause and effect, or trait and outcome, and then apply the same relationship consistently in the second pair.

Final Answer:
The correct completion of the analogy is that a pessimist is typically gloomy, just as an optimist is cheerful.