pipe dream

noun

Definition of pipe dream

: an illusory or fantastic plan, hope, or story

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Examples of pipe dream in a Sentence

His plan for starting his own business was just a pipe dream. opening our own restaurant has long been a pipe dream

Recent Examples on the Web

That's kind of pipe dream, however, he's never dealt with some like Trump before. — Fox News, "How Trump differs from past presidents on North Korea," 12 June 2018 Or, for those who truly love pipe dreams, picture Kyrie Irving and Donovan Mitchell dueling in the 2023 Finals… in Beijing. — Ben Golliver, SI.com, "The Case For Moving the NBA Finals to a Neutral Site," 22 May 2018 But at the time, computational speed made the idea a pipe dream. — Kevin Hartnett, WIRED, "A Classical Math Problem Gets Pulled Into Self-Driving Cars," 26 May 2018 Canadian producers may yet discover that conquering the globe is just a pipe dream. — The Economist, "Canada’s cannabis firms plot world domination," 5 July 2018 Now sobered up, Hickey is trying to convince his fellow barflies to stop clinging to their pipe dreams, and Washington imbues his character with searing delusion, guilt-ridden desperation, and a hint of menace. — Christopher Wallenberg, BostonGlobe.com, "Picks and predictions for the Tonys," 8 June 2018 Yet even when Tuesday brought a crisis point to ABC, swift corporate action seemed like a pipe dream. — Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press, "ABC deserves applause for swiftly canning 'Roseanne' after racist tweet," 29 May 2018 There are some holes that make par seem like a genuinely unattainable pipe dream. — Daniel Rapaport, SI.com, "FORE Questions: Young Americans Are Dominating Professional Golf," 28 May 2018 But those pipe dreams were to remain as such from the day Lucia met Gianni Bulgari, one of three brothers who were running the company. — Alice B-b, A-LIST, "No Place Like Rome," 4 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pipe dream.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

2 Oct 2018

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Time Traveler for pipe dream

The first known use of pipe dream was in 1890

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More Definitions for pipe dream

pipe dream

noun

English Language Learners Definition of pipe dream

: a hope, wish, or dream that is impossible to achieve or not practical

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