ideal
adjective OPAL W
/aɪˈdiːəl/
/aɪˈdiːəl/
Idioms - perfect; most suitable
- an ideal location/place
- ideal for somebody/something This beach is ideal for children.
- She's the ideal candidate for the job.
- The trip to Paris will be an ideal opportunity to practise my French.
- The prime minister admitted the current situation was ‘not ideal’ (= was bad).
- It was not the ideal solution to the problem.
- Harvesting is being done in less than ideal conditions.
Extra Examples- The hotel's size makes it ideal for large conferences.
- The houses are absolutely ideal for families with young children.
- As a solution to the problem it was far from ideal.
- His apartment would be an ideal place to stay.
- This job would be absolutely ideal for someone with an interest in local history.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- look
- prove
- …
- absolutely
- almost
- nearly
- …
- for
- [only before noun] existing only in your imagination or as an idea; not likely to be real
- the search for ideal love
Word Originlate Middle English (as a term in Platonic philosophy, in the sense ‘existing as an archetype’): from late Latin idealis, via Latin from Greek idea ‘form, pattern’, from the base of idein ‘to see’.
Idioms
in an ideal/a perfect world
- used to say that something is what you would like to happen or what should happen, but you know it cannot
- In an ideal world we would be recycling and reusing everything.
Extra Examples- In a perfect world no one would need to pay for healthcare.
- In an ideal world, I'd like to work just three days a week.