as in romantic
having or marked by a tendency to be guided more by ideals than by reality
the starry-eyed notion that international sports competitions actually help foster global harmony
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Recent Examples of starry-eyed
The entire action takes places on a Broadway stage where 17 actors, both starry-eyed newcomers and grizzled stage veterans, are auditioning for one of eight spots on a chorus line of an upcoming musical.
—
Ross Raihala,
Twin Cities,
18 May 2026
Many excellent books are originally written in English, and yet every day starry-eyed translators add a handful more to the shelves.
—
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
There is a starry-eyed optimism in the gesture that emphasizes the darker manipulations of their relationship.
—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
16 Apr. 2026
Even amid dismal ratings for the US government overall, views of NASA remain relatively starry-eyed.
—
Ariel Edwards-Levy,
CNN Money,
9 Apr. 2026
It had supposedly been made in the nineteen-forties, for an Italian countess or an English lady, then scrapped, and afterward either smuggled out of the workroom by a starry-eyed seamstress or, with the atelier head’s approval, given to one of the in-house models.
—
Han Ong,
New Yorker,
15 Mar. 2026
On Tuesday night, as the NFL world reeled with the Maxx Crosby news and the NBA was starry-eyed at Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, the rest of us were watching Team Italy embarrass the good ol’ US of A with an 8-6 win in the World Baseball Classic.
—
Jon Greenberg,
New York Times,
11 Mar. 2026
But Sexistential, released in March, pushes in the opposite direction, toward starry-eyed excess and abandon.
—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
11 Mar. 2026
The film’s plot is thrust in motion when a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, watching as a starry-eyed nurse (Cemre Paksoy) becomes entangled with her mysterious patient (Bruce McKenzie).
—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
3 Mar. 2026
Ross Raihala,
Twin Cities,
18 May 2026
Many excellent books are originally written in English, and yet every day starry-eyed translators add a handful more to the shelves.
—
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
There is a starry-eyed optimism in the gesture that emphasizes the darker manipulations of their relationship.
—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
16 Apr. 2026
Even amid dismal ratings for the US government overall, views of NASA remain relatively starry-eyed.
—
Ariel Edwards-Levy,
CNN Money,
9 Apr. 2026
It had supposedly been made in the nineteen-forties, for an Italian countess or an English lady, then scrapped, and afterward either smuggled out of the workroom by a starry-eyed seamstress or, with the atelier head’s approval, given to one of the in-house models.
—
Han Ong,
New Yorker,
15 Mar. 2026
On Tuesday night, as the NFL world reeled with the Maxx Crosby news and the NBA was starry-eyed at Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, the rest of us were watching Team Italy embarrass the good ol’ US of A with an 8-6 win in the World Baseball Classic.
—
Jon Greenberg,
New York Times,
11 Mar. 2026
But Sexistential, released in March, pushes in the opposite direction, toward starry-eyed excess and abandon.
—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
11 Mar. 2026
The film’s plot is thrust in motion when a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, watching as a starry-eyed nurse (Cemre Paksoy) becomes entangled with her mysterious patient (Bruce McKenzie).
—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
3 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for starry-eyed
Adjective
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Baldet didn’t arrive in hospitality with a romantic attachment to restaurants, but a model, a thesis and enough self-awareness to realise neither would survive contact with the floor unchanged.
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Prior to this, the two denied romantic interest both publicly and in private conversations.
Adjective
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The firm at one earlier point had reportedly offered a service to screen against low intelligence in human embryos, which is a highly controversial and perhaps impractical idea.
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Pretty, functional storage solutions are the perfect antidote to impractical minimalism.
Adjective
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Chan stars as idealistic rookie officer Shih-Ting, while veteran actor Cheng portrays Hou, a pragmatic policeman approaching retirement.
-
The first stretch of the film centers on co-founder Ilya Sutskever (Yura Borisov), the idealistic scientific mind behind the company, before the boardroom power struggle takes over.
Adjective
-
On this basis, the utopian concept of planetary defense could also turn into a celestial version of the Cold War—or worse.
-
There’s this almost utopian small-town feel to it.
Cite this Entry
“Starry-eyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/starry-eyed. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
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