chimera

chi·me·ra

noun \kī-ˈmir-ə, kə-\

Definition of CHIMERA

1

a capitalized : a fire-breathing she-monster in Greek mythology having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail b : an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts

2

: an illusion or fabrication of the mind; especially : an unrealizable dream <a fancy, a chimera in my brain, troubles me in my prayer — John Donne>

3

: an individual, organ, or part consisting of tissues of diverse genetic constitution

Examples of CHIMERA

1. Economic stability in that country is a chimera.
2. <a monster in the closet would not have been the first chimera that the boy had seen in his mind's eye>

Origin of CHIMERA

Latin chimaera, from Greek chimaira she-goat, chimera; akin to Old Norse gymbr yearling ewe, Greek cheimōn winter — more at hibernate

Related to CHIMERA

Synonyms: fantasy, conceit, daydream, delusion, dream, fancy, figment, hallucination, illusion, nonentity, phantasm (also fantasm), pipe dream, unreality, vision

Related Words: ignis fatuus, mirage, will-o'-the-wisp; brainchild, idea; concoction, fable, fabrication, fiction, invention; envisaging, imaging, visualization; cloud-cuckoo-land, cloudland, Shangri-la, utopia; daymare, nightmare

Near Antonyms: actuality, fact, reality

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Other Genetics Terms

hermaphrodite, plasticity

Rhymes with CHIMERA

chimaera, hetaera, lempira, mbira