quixotical

adjective

as in romantic
having or marked by a tendency to be guided more by ideals than by reality a quixotical attempt to bring live theater to a generation hooked on video games

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for quixotical
  1. romantic
  2. impractical
  3. quixotic
  4. idealistic
Adjective
  • People love spy stories, but there is nothing amusing, or romantic, about this one.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 17 Oct. 2026
  • The romantic Turing Test When Franky Vergara’s cousin asked him how to respond to a flirtatious Hinge message, Vergara, a 23-year-old living in San Diego, didn’t know how to help.
    — Sneha Dhandapani, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of romantic
Adjective
  • Wearing impractical stilettos and clutching a massive Stanley cup, Trina is introduced to her new pupils.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Their potential applications include modeling advanced materials and chemical reactions, optimizing complex logistics networks and addressing some computational problems that are impractical for today’s systems.
    — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of impractical
Adjective
  • Like its first season, season two of The Lowdown follows Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon, a freelance journalist and bookstore owner in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a nose for trouble and a hefty dose of quixotic, self-righteous moral indignation.
    — Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Rockaway itself is an unusually cinematic place, with its open sky and quixotic light.
    — Sam Fleischner, IndieWire, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of quixotic
Adjective
  • Opposite him is Nouri, the idealistic doctor, whose refusal to enforce a Sharia court order puts his life in jeopardy.
    — Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 20 Oct. 2026
  • This time, Michael sounds less idealistic and much more cynical.
    — Noel Murray, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of idealistic
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.

Browse Nearby Words

quixotic
quixotical
quiz
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Quixotical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quixotical. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of puissant

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 23

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All