utopian

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

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

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

But for years, a few utopian believers have insisted that New York is different.

— howard husock, WSJ, "From Rats to Rainwater, a Tour of New York Public Housing," 8 June 2018
Some people have falsely characterized my views as utopian.

— dylan matthews, Vox, "The internet was supposed to save democracy. I asked 4 tech optimists what went wrong.," 8 June 2018
That might have been true in the early, rudimentary days of the Web, when the Internet was still full of utopian promise.

— nick bilton, The Hive, "“It’s Not Up to Us What People Say”: Why We Can’t Bet on Silicon Valley to Save Us from Ourselves," 1 June 2018
Ledoux was known for creating utopian designs that supported human activities and interaction, though many were never constructed.

— jennifer billock, Smithsonian, "Seven Planned Utopian Towns That You Can Visit Today," 23 May 2018
Peace and harmony were the primary themes of the program, which depicted the mystical journey of five children to a utopian future.

— dylan hernandez, latimes.com, "Opening ceremony tried, but it's the Olympic athletes who are needed to unite us," 10 Feb. 2018
To this utopian public, an underground that traffics in the revelations of contraband text is like the Amish crossed with the Taliban, a strange cult outside time and the law.

— steve erickson, Los Angeles Magazine, "HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 Reveals a Blurred Line Between Utopia and Hell," 16 May 2018
But these seemingly utopian enclaves have a troubling origin story: the atomic bomb.

— diana budds, Curbed, "Why the U.S. government built three top-secret cities during WWII," 8 May 2018
Burning Man represents utopian ideals about society and consumerism, and Harvey outlined them in the 10 Principles of Burning Man.

— alix langone, Fortune, "Burning Man Founder Larry Harvey Dies at 70," 29 Apr. 2018

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?