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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of idealist
Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2024
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
Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025
This is the classic foreign policy term, in contrast to a foreign policy idealist, whose legacy comes from Woodrow Wilson and his quest for a League of Nations.
—Richard Stengel, Time, 16 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for idealist
Adjective
The movie stars Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, an idealist architect with the power to control time, who is determined to rebuild a city that seems like New York after an accident plunges it into ruins.
—Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2024
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
Noun
Feng’s subjects are largely idealists who engage in activities that eventually run afoul of Xi’s increasingly repressive regime.
—Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025
This is the classic foreign policy term, in contrast to a foreign policy idealist, whose legacy comes from Woodrow Wilson and his quest for a League of Nations.
—Richard Stengel, Time, 16 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for idealist
Recent Examples of Synonyms for idealist
Adjective
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While Paris is often framed as endlessly romantic, Wells says the day-to-day realities can be isolating.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
8 Jan. 2026
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Safe to say a breakup album is off the table, as the artist is back in her romantic era.—
Emily Kelleher,
InStyle,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Our country has been built by immigrants, refugees, dreamers and fighters—people who came here driven by hope and the belief that a better life was possible.—
Grace Meng,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Nov. 2025
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The trail traces nearly 100 miles of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail, a route that once carried traders, settlers, and dreamers westward during America’s frontier expansion.—
Erin Gifford,
Outside,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The series chronicles the decades-long relationship between Bailey’s bright-eyed and idealistic young congressional staffer Tim and Matt Bomer’s stern State Department official, Hawk.—
Emlyn Travis,
Entertainment Weekly,
4 Nov. 2025
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Cowley’s disillusioned but fundamentally idealistic cohort had an unexpected response.—
Michael Gorra,
The Atlantic,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Critics lambasted those policies as impractical at best, reckless at worst.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
5 Nov. 2025
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The Countach is also famously impractical and a pain to drive, so the next buyer will likely be taking on a more-than-usual stewardship role in terms of old supercars, the service not being to themselves but to the wider community, which gets to look at the Countach rather than operate it.—
Erik Shilling,
Robb Report,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Urbano’s installations, radically utopian in this sense, re-create ideal spaces free from the spatiotemporal coordinates and rigid laws that govern our daily lives.—
Javier Montes,
Artforum,
1 Jan. 2026
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This is a scrapbook of utopian folly, yes, but also an insider’s look at what was, for a time, the wildest workplace on Earth.—
Andrew Holter,
The Atlantic,
31 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Idealist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idealist. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
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