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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The program has accumulated nearly $80 million to support their college and career dreams.—
Debra-Ellen Glickstein,
New York Daily News,
20 Apr. 2026
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For aspiring writers scrolling through deal announcements on industry sites or social media, those vague labels can fuel both dreams and misconceptions.—
Josh Rivera,
USA Today,
19 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But some movies, either deliberately or inadvertently, manage to offer glimpses into the future, either through visions of technological advances or predicted social and political trends.—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
22 Apr. 2026
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When citizens insist on shaping the basic terms of social life by appealing to premises that others cannot reasonably be expected to accept—revelation, doctrines of transcendence, private moral visions—the result is not a purer politics but a dangerously brittle one.—
Nikhil Krishnan,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
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There’s now no mainstream because there are now fewer illusions, both regarding the public and regarding what goes on behind the scenes; the transparency and the resulting scrutiny that extend to the economics and social life of movies extend to the art of cinema as well.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
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Instead, Angine de Poitrine are more like Meshuggah or Dawn of Midi, establishing a meter and then creating rhythmic illusions using creative bursts of syncopation.—
Christopher R. Weingarten,
Pitchfork,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But what Danielson says was intended as a symbolic protest escalated dramatically amid paranoid fantasies, prosaic miscommunications, and the false report of a gun.—
Tessa Stuart,
Rolling Stone,
23 Apr. 2026
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Inspired in part by Gillian Anderson’s compendium of women’s erotic fantasies, Want, as well as Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden, Superbloom is, in theory, a manifestation of Ware’s deepest desires.—
Harry Tafoya,
Pitchfork,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Just think of all those vacant Madonnas, structurally perfect compositions, and obedient daydreams of antiquity.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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The family car is a Mazda, but Zac daydreams of a Bugatti Veyron.—
Frank Langfitt,
NPR,
4 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pipe dreams.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pipe%20dreams. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.
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