as in romantic
having or marked by a tendency to be guided more by ideals than by reality
an idealist attempt to make a go of a mom-and-pop hardware store on Main Street
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in dreamer
one whose conduct is guided more by the image of perfection than by the real world
an idealist sees the best in everyone, regardless of how they behave
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of idealist
Zoe G Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2024
In each episode, Kaplan argues that although hubris, ambition, and hatred always lurk in the background, the knowledge of human imperfection and the limits of progress can liberate people to seek greater self-awareness and avoid idealist misadventures.
—Robert D. Kaplan, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2023
Bob Mondello, NPR, 2 Apr. 2025
The film follows Vidya, a single mother and idealist who moves into Mahalaxmi Apartment as a tenant.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 16 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for idealist
Adjective
The film’s first trailer released on Monday, featuring Adam Driver as an idealist architect up against Giancarlo Esposito as a pragmatist mayor.
—Zoe G Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2024
In each episode, Kaplan argues that although hubris, ambition, and hatred always lurk in the background, the knowledge of human imperfection and the limits of progress can liberate people to seek greater self-awareness and avoid idealist misadventures.
—Robert D. Kaplan, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2023
Noun
And the film ends, not with glory for its title idealist, but with chaos, and the president of the Senate smiling smugly to himself.
—Bob Mondello, NPR, 2 Apr. 2025
The film follows Vidya, a single mother and idealist who moves into Mahalaxmi Apartment as a tenant.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 16 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for idealist
Recent Examples of Synonyms for idealist
Adjective
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Account hopes to combat misogynistic online content Creators like Andrew Tate provide a pipeline for men seeking advice about romantic rejection, physical self-esteem and economic insecurity to fall into radicalism and misogyny.—
Rachel Hale,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2025
-
Not a depiction of romantic bliss, but a kind of love song all the same.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Often nobody but the dreamers get hurt when their impossible dreams fall flat.—
Mike Hendricks,
Kansas City Star,
17 Apr. 2025
-
The film follows a young dreamer mistaken for Earth’s ambassador to a cosmic council, blending humor, heart and sci-fi spectacle.—
Jamie Lang,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Lucas loved the idealistic adventure reels of the ’30s and ’40s where good and evil were divided by a fresh coat of paint.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2025
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The agreement was motivated primarily by the desire for greater economic efficiency and personal convenience, not by idealistic efforts to realize absolute humanist or European federal ideals.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Tapping into the endowment may be impractical for several reasons, including that some of it is legally restricted, but also because some of the unrestricted money is tied up in illiquid assets, such as in hedge funds, private equity and real estate that can’t be easily sold.—
Kara Scannell,
CNN Money,
18 Apr. 2025
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Blockchain might revolutionize insurance claim processing while proving impractical for emergency communications.—
Chloe Demrovsky,
Forbes.com,
17 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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There would be adverts for iPhones that were utopian with interesting-looking people smiling holding these shiny devices.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
10 Apr. 2025
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But Scott also looked at German scientific forestry; collective farming in the Soviet Union and Tanzania; utopian city planning in Chandigarh, India, and in Brasília; and Vladimir Lenin’s theories about the formation of revolutionary parties.—
Nikil Saval,
New Yorker,
7 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Aveline is known for his folksy, easy-going nature, readiness to crack jokes, and ideological proximity to Francis, especially on immigration and relations with the Muslim world.—
Philip Pullella, Crispian Balmer, Alvise Armellini, Joshua McElwee and Chris Scicluna,
USA Today,
21 Apr. 2025
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This is obviously tendentious—nor does Stewart mean it entirely seriously—but, then, Lincoln, like Jesus, is easily made to conform to whatever ideological need the historian brings to him.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
21 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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There is a difference between quixotic and foolish.—
Ilan Stavans,
The Atlantic,
15 Apr. 2025
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Our devastation of nature is so deep and vast that to reverse its effects, on any front, often entails efforts that are so painstaking and quixotic as to border on the ridiculous.—
Nick Paumgarten,
The New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Idealist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idealist. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
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