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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for quixotical
  1. romantic
  2. impractical
  3. quixotic
  4. idealistic
Adjective
  • Lucas was convicted of fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026
  • This gorgeous night dress will keep you cool in the summer, and features a romantic lace trim, round neckline, and luminous shell buttons.
    — Caroline Hughes, Travel + Leisure, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of romantic
Adjective
  • Direct transmission becomes increasingly impractical beyond that point.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 14 Aug. 2026
  • It's born from combining advances across science, engineering and computation in ways that make previously impractical technologies commercially viable.
    — Cyrus Wadia, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of impractical
Adjective
  • The quixotic odyssey at its center, with its hairpin turns and madcap improvisations, can seem like something sketched out by Jules Verne.
    — Danny Heitman, Christian Science Monitor, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Proposing federal-policy solutions to this crisis may seem quixotic when Washington is so dysfunctional and polarized.
    — Keith Humphreys, The Atlantic, 29 July 2026
Definition of quixotic
Adjective
  • Harper arrived at Bates College in Maine in 2020 as an idealistic new PhD in comparative literature, grateful for the tenure-track job that promised him that rarest of prizes these days — a career in the humanities.
    — Gary Rosen, Washington Post, 19 Aug. 2026
  • The dominos had been falling inside Paul Weiss for years, past and present staffers at the firm told the Times, a battle between lawyers interested in idealistic litigation and corporate-minded attorneys with a focus on mergers and business.
    — Eve Batey, Vanity Fair, 2 Aug. 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.

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quixotic
quixotical
quiz
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Cite this Entry

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

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