quixotic
adjective
Did you know?
Quixotic Has Roots in Literature
If you guessed that quixotic has something to do with Don Quixote, you're absolutely right. The hero of Miguel de Cervantes' 17th-century Spanish novel El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (in English "The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha") didn't change the world by tilting at windmills, but he did leave a linguistic legacy in English. The adjective quixotic is based on his name and has been used to describe unrealistic idealists since at least the early 18th century. The novel has given English other words as well. Dulcinea, the name of Quixote's beloved, has come to mean "mistress" or "sweetheart," and rosinante, which is sometimes used to refer to an old, broken-down horse, comes from the name of the hero's less-than-gallant steed, Rocinante.
Synonyms
- idealist
- idealistic
- quixotical
- romantic
- starry
- starry-eyed
- utopian
- visionary
Example Sentences
Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review, 22 Feb. 2009 The history of biblical oil prospecting is filled with quixotic quests and colorful characters, starting with Welsie Hancock, a wealthy California man who in the 1960s dreamed that Jesus told him he would find black gold in the Holy Land. He sunk his entire fortune into two dry holes. Mariah Blake, Mother Jones, January and February 2008 Mumey had announced his candidacy as an independent in the partisan election, which meant that he needed 2,300 signatures of registered voters in order to get on the ballot in the fall. It seemed a quixotic adventure, given the small size of Celebration and Mumey's lack of name recognition outside the town. Douglas Frantz et al., Celebration, USA, 1999 They had quixotic dreams about the future. in this age of giant chain stores, any attempt at operating an independent bookstore must be regarded as quixotic Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 14 Aug. 2022 The battle is now quixotic or, put another way, performative. Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 12 Aug. 2022 So far, that scrutiny has raised a lot of questions about Musk's conduct, even beyond his daily outbursts on Twitter and occasional quixotic corporate raiding. Allison Morrow, CNN, 25 July 2022 But in a podcast interview in May with Joe Oltmann, a right-wing activist in Colorado, Griffin placed his outwardly quixotic actions in the context of a sort of domino theory of how the 2020 election might still be overturned. New York Times, 19 July 2022 Instead of their usual quixotic quest, Utah Democrats declined to send a nominee to the ballot this year, clearing the way for a one-on-one contest between the Republican nominee and independent candidate Evan McMullin. Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 28 June 2022 Weather conditions were at least quixotic; at best mercurial. Tom Mullen, Forbes, 22 May 2022 This Utopian collective of 17 extraordinary artists happily reinventing opera was the communal music director last weekend for the 75th anniversary of this ever-quixotic festival. Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2022 Like Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man and other quixotic figures in the Herzog canon, Onoda is driven to extremes by an intoxicating blend of passion and delusion. Ryu Spaeth, The New Republic, 2 June 2022 See More Word History
Don Quixote
1718, in the meaning defined at sense 1
quixotic
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- impractical
- romantic
- idealistic
- utopian
- idealist
- optimistic
- ideological
- quixotical
- visionary
- starry-eyed
- zealous
- hopeful
- unrealistic
- starry
- sentimental
- ideologic
- messianic
- crusading
- moony
- moonstruck
- Pollyannish
- upbeat
- Pollyannaish
- rosy
- tender-minded
- doctrinaire
- dewy-eyed
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- pragmatic
- unsentimental
- hardheaded
- pragmatical
- practical
- realistic
- clear-eyed
- tough-minded
- clear-sighted
- hard-nosed
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of quixotic are chimerical, fanciful, fantastic, imaginary, and visionary. While all these words mean "unreal or unbelievable," quixotic implies a devotion to romantic or chivalrous ideals unrestrained by ordinary prudence and common sense.
Chimerical combines the implication of visionary and fantastic.
The words fanciful and quixotic can be used in similar contexts, but fanciful suggests the free play of the imagination.
While the synonyms fantastic and quixotic are close in meaning, fantastic implies incredibility or strangeness beyond belief.
The meanings of imaginary and quixotic largely overlap; however, imaginary applies to something which is fictitious and purely the product of one's imagination.
While in some cases nearly identical to quixotic, visionary stresses impracticality or incapability of realization.