as in dream
a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective reality
opening our own restaurant has long been a pipe dream
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Recent Examples of pipe dream
The stalker pipe dreams need to stop here.
—
Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
Friends called it a pipe dream.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 5 Nov. 2025
Expecting it to be now seems like a pipe dream.
—Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 17 Oct. 2025
Dozens of companies are now competing to make the world’s first viable humanoid robot, convinced that recent advances in AI have made what was once a pipe dream into achievable reality.
—Billy Perrigo, Time, 14 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pipe dream
Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
Friends called it a pipe dream.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 5 Nov. 2025
Expecting it to be now seems like a pipe dream.
—Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 17 Oct. 2025
Dozens of companies are now competing to make the world’s first viable humanoid robot, convinced that recent advances in AI have made what was once a pipe dream into achievable reality.
—Billy Perrigo, Time, 14 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pipe dream
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pipe dream
Noun
-
Sadly, his college ball dreams didn’t come to fruition after the coach who called him up retired.—
Marina Watts,
PEOPLE,
13 Jan. 2026
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Over the past seven years, Blake Lively brought her dream hair care line to life by redefining the beauty industry with a blend of passion, precision and purpose.—
Kanika Talwar,
Footwear News,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Still, there are some footwear styles and silhouettes that work better for women on the shorter side, helping give the illusion of a higher stature.—
Shelby Comroe,
InStyle,
10 Jan. 2026
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Her sister, Kali, has the power to create illusions, so the Eleven that everyone witnessed in her final moments could have been fake, and the real Eleven could have slipped away without being detected.—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Bob Weir, the singer, songwriter, guitarist, and co-founder of the Grateful Dead, whose songs about sunshine daydreams and truckin’ helped turn the jam band into a 60-year musical empire, has died at age 78.—
Richard Gehr,
Rolling Stone,
10 Jan. 2026
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Season 5, after all, is framed by Mike and Eleven’s daydream of a conversation in the first episode.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
26 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
And, once again, fantasies of surgical strikes are yielding to messy realities.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
New Yorker,
10 Jan. 2026
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As that tension escalates, battles — between good and evil, fantasy and reality, collapse and triumph — ensue.—
Bob Gendron,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Thinking globally and acting locally means electing people of vision, not people who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag without a lobbyist lighting their way under the table, or down the wrong path where for-profit companies rule and teachers are scapegoated for society's failures.—
SHELLEY SMITH SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE,
Arkansas Online,
10 Jan. 2026
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Harbaugh discussed his vision for the team and his coaching staff.—
Jeff Zrebiec,
New York Times,
10 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pipe dream.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pipe%20dream. Accessed 14 Jan. 2026.
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