pipe dreams

noun

plural of pipe dream
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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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pipe dreams As the league and union continue amassing their respective war chests for the next CBA four-to-five years down the road, the last thing the league needs to do publicly is depict pipe dreams as front-burner issues. — Jonathan Jones, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026 Arendt then cited Wilhelm Marr’s Sieg des Judentums über das Germanentum (The Victory of Judaism over Teutonism, 1869), thus lining up all the antisemitic pipe dreams that came close to fulfillment. — Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2026 The Information posited, while noting that since 2020, Meta’s Reality Lab division has lost $87 billion chasing metaverse pipe dreams. — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 10 July 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pipe dreams
  1. dreams
  2. visions
  3. illusions
  4. fantasies
  5. daydreams
Noun
  • Evidence remains mixed, and dreams could also be an experiential by-product of useful sleeping-brain activity, rather than an adaptation with its own job description.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Nov. 2026
  • This is the state that Haley Stevens has claimed to literally see in her dreams.
    — Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of dreams
Noun
  • Whether such an imbalance can lead to anything sustainable for a team with visions beyond this uneven start is one thing.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Moreover, Shortreed noted that Disney’s collaborations showcase a merging of creative visions while focusing on craftsmanship and storytelling.
    — Kanika Talwar, Footwear News, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of visions
Noun
  • Their fourth-quarter magic is gone, replaced by fourth-quarter illusions.
    — Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 2 Nov. 2026
  • Cognitive symptoms could include illusions or hallucinations — some patients report sensing a shadowy figure nearby — and difficulties with problem solving and navigation.
    — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of illusions
Noun
  • The Cybertruck was a car built for the paranoid fantasies that have gripped so much of a country destabilized by generations of economic theft.
    — Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 7 Nov. 2026
  • The Gilded Age’s third season and fourth-season premiere have spent a significant amount of time spinning cotton-candy fantasies of romance.
    — The Editors, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of fantasies
Noun
  • This helps warm up the imagination; daydreams, nightmares are easy ways in.
    — Emily Temple, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The songs on Purdy also have the tone of journal entries, detailing haggard trips to the grocery store, daydreams about his young daughters’ glamorous adult lives, and observations about the banality of oppression.
    — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of daydreams

Browse Nearby Words

pipe dream
pipe dreams
piped up
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Cite this Entry

“Pipe dreams.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pipe%20dreams. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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