utopian

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adjective, often capitalized uto·pi·an \ yu̇-ˈtō-pē-ən \

Definition of utopian

1 :of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a utopia; especially :having impossibly ideal conditions especially of social organization

2 :proposing or advocating impractically ideal social and political schemes

utopian idealists

3 :impossibly ideal :visionary

recognised the utopian nature of his hopes
—C. S. Kilby

4 :believing in, advocating, or having the characteristics of utopian socialism

utopian doctrines

utopian novels

Examples of utopian in a Sentence

a plan to revitalize the city's decaying downtown that proved to be overly ambitious and utopian

Recent Examples of utopian from the Web

Many, especially people in Bergé’s circle, criticized grands projets the as pseudo-utopian absurdities that were ersatz and ugly (another was the glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei outside the Louvre).

— james mcauley, Town & Country, "Is Pierre Bergé the Most Powerful Man In France?," 16 Aug. 2017
Sklar did a little writing on the former and helped shape the latter, ensuring that Walt’s vision for a utopian city would live on in theme park form.

— todd martens, latimes.com, "Getting to know Marty Sklar, a man who shaped Disney theme parks," 30 July 2017
Star Trek is the ultimate vision of a futuristic human utopian society.

— matt miller, Esquire, "A Few Words You're Not Allowed to Say in the Star Trek Universe," 28 July 2017
There were plenty more besides: Seventh Day Adventists began practicing their beliefs in canal towns, as did the utopian Oneida Community.

— lorraine boissoneault, Smithsonian, "Thank the Erie Canal For Spreading People, Ideas and Germs Across America," 3 July 2017
The Rajneeshees ended up using intimidation and political chicanery in an attempt to secure the group's power in the rural county, ultimately leading to the utopian community's demise.

— douglas perry, OregonLive.com, "Portland in the 1980s: Drug gangs, skinheads loomed, but so did the start of something special," 21 June 2017
Kurzweil is the author of The Singularity Is Near, a Utopian vision of what an A.I. future holds.

— maureen dowd, The Hive, "Elon Musk’s Billion-Dollar Crusade to Stop the A.I. Apocalypse," 19 June 2017
So what is the overriding trend with ISIS, which is seeking to transform its failing promise of utopian Islamic rule into a prime motivator of attacks worldwide, with weapons sometimes as simple as kitchen knives?

— scott peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, "The state of ISIS: shrinking territory, expanding reach," 12 June 2017
The book also serves as a warning about creating a utopian world.

— tiffany kelly, Popular Mechanics, "The Best Science Fiction Books of 2017 (So Far)," 12 June 2017

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

Did You Know?

In 1516 Thomas More published Utopia, a description of a fictional island in the Atlantic with an ideal society, in order to draw a sharp contrast with the disorderly political situation of his own time. He created the name from topos ("place") and ou, Greek for "no", since he was well aware that nowhere so perfect was likely to exist on earth. People have long dreamed of creating utopian communities; some of them have joined communes, societies where other idealists like themselves have chosen to live in a cooperative way according to certain principles. Not just communes but plans of all kinds have been labeled utopian by critics. But we can dream, can't we?