QUIXOTICAL Synonyms: 37 Similar and Opposite Words

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

Adjective

It Brizé’s fourth time in competition at Venice after the Fipresci Prize winning A Woman’s Life as well as Another World and romantic interlude Out of Season, starring Guillaume Canet and Rohrwacher.

— Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 24 Aug. 2026
Furthermore a Washington Post investigation found nearly 50 cases of officers charged with or accused of misusing the cameras, many involving tracking current or former romantic partners.

— Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 24 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.

Browse Nearby Words

quixotic

quixotical

quiz

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Quixotical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quixotical. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of quixotical

adjective

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

southpaw

Popular in Grammar & Usage

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Commonly Misspelled Words

Popular in Wordplay

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Why do we say 'break a leg'?

16 Glee-ridden Words from Schitt's Creek

Popular

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Games & Quizzes