as in dreams
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 dreams
Music promoters, both craving the one-upmanship and genuine satisfaction of getting a lucrative band back on a stage, have more money at their disposal than ever before to make their pipe dreams a reality.
—
Devon Ivie,
Vulture,
13 Nov. 2025
The stalker pipe dreams need to stop here.
—
Micah McCartney,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
The idea that renewables alone can power the American economy is nonsense given the current technology, green pipe dreams notwithstanding.
—
Editorial,
Boston Herald,
8 Sep. 2025
Devon Ivie,
Vulture,
13 Nov. 2025
The stalker pipe dreams need to stop here.
—
Micah McCartney,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
The idea that renewables alone can power the American economy is nonsense given the current technology, green pipe dreams notwithstanding.
—
Editorial,
Boston Herald,
8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pipe dreams
Noun
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As the nation turns 250 years old, USA TODAY decided to create a time capsule, not of items but of dreams Americans hold for the country’s future.
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Harriette Cole is a lifestylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams.
Noun
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The man cannot help himself, visions be damned.
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The future north campus remains a contest of differing visions.
Noun
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Presented Out of Competition at the 1967 edition of Venice, Deadly Sweet takes it cue from a brief encounter between a disenchanted man and a girl with no illusions in the wake of the murder of a nightclub owner in London.
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Perhaps because of this aesthetic of illusions, the earnest state pride evident in some of the pavilions turns out to feel especially delightful.
Noun
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For this dourest of doubters, Musk’s claims for the feats ahead can only happen in the SpaceX founder’s head, or in the sci-fi fantasies Eisman grew up on.
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Circe and Calypso, for instance, are fantasies of pleasure and captivity, projections of men’s fear of losing control; Odysseus’ abandonment of them is part of his return to command.
Noun
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And amidst the momentum of reverie, there’s the line ‘Blink at the light and hope to survive,’ because daydreams in a fascist state can be scary too.
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One-touch passing, feinting and ripping hard shots into a tattered net, each is super-charged by vivid daydreams of glory on the international stage.
Cite this Entry
“Pipe dreams.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pipe%20dreams. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
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