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 of pipe dream from the Web
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Canadian producers may yet discover that conquering the globe is just a pipe dream.
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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.
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Yet even when Tuesday brought a crisis point to ABC, swift corporate action seemed like a pipe dream.
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There are some holes that make par seem like a genuinely unattainable pipe dream.
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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.
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This vision of hyper-productive Chinese clusters is a pipe dream for now.
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The gap between trade machine pipe dream and practical reality may come down to which teams can successfully move some of their most inconvenient contracts.
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Once a pipe dream, the EV road trip is now a reality Think plug in cars are just for short errands?
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.
Origin and Etymology of pipe dream
from the fantasies brought about by the smoking of opium
pipe dream Synonyms
Synonyms
chimera, conceit, daydream, delusion, dream, fancy, fantasy (also phantasy), figment, hallucination, illusion, nonentity, phantasm (also fantasm), unreality, vision;
Related Words
ignis fatuus, mirage, will-o'-the-wisp;
concoction, fable, fabrication, fiction, invention;
envisaging, imaging, visualization;
Phrases
castle in Spain, castle in the air;
PIPE DREAM Defined for English Language Learners
pipe dream
Definition of pipe dream for English Language Learners
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: a hope, wish, or dream that is impossible to achieve or not practical
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See words that rhyme with pipe dream Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for pipe dream Spanish Central: Translation of pipe dream
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