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
Carrie Underwood will once again be seated at the judges’ table, having joined the cast in 2025 when Katy Perry signed off after seven seasons, as starry-eyed hopefuls compete for a $250,000 prize and a chance at a recording contract.
—
Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 26 Jan. 2026
Neither will starry-eyed dreams of Venezuelan oil profits.
—Jamie Holmes, Twin Cities, 22 Jan. 2026
Emery Lehman, who is just 29 but will be competing in his fourth Olympics (1,500, team pursuit) and then doing his own retiring, is quite starry-eyed when talking about Bowe.
—Steve Buckley, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
This time around, Lily Collins' starry-eyed striver is setting up shop in Rome.
—Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Dec. 2025
As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 10 Dec. 2025
According to the report, the starry-eyed CEO wants to build factories to produce fiber-optic cable, data center equipment, and other critical components for AI infrastructure, funded by Japan.
—Jeff Marks, CNBC, 5 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, Prime Video has told us that Season 2 remains at the top of its chart worldwide, as young adults flock to the show, which follows the epic love story between the starry-eyed Ruby (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and privileged James (Damian Hardung) at an elite English private school.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 1 Dec. 2025
This ancient practice has been a source of guidance and meaning for people from all walks of life, not just mystics and starry-eyed romantics.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025
Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 26 Jan. 2026
Neither will starry-eyed dreams of Venezuelan oil profits.
—Jamie Holmes, Twin Cities, 22 Jan. 2026
Emery Lehman, who is just 29 but will be competing in his fourth Olympics (1,500, team pursuit) and then doing his own retiring, is quite starry-eyed when talking about Bowe.
—Steve Buckley, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
This time around, Lily Collins' starry-eyed striver is setting up shop in Rome.
—Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Dec. 2025
As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 10 Dec. 2025
According to the report, the starry-eyed CEO wants to build factories to produce fiber-optic cable, data center equipment, and other critical components for AI infrastructure, funded by Japan.
—Jeff Marks, CNBC, 5 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, Prime Video has told us that Season 2 remains at the top of its chart worldwide, as young adults flock to the show, which follows the epic love story between the starry-eyed Ruby (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and privileged James (Damian Hardung) at an elite English private school.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 1 Dec. 2025
This ancient practice has been a source of guidance and meaning for people from all walks of life, not just mystics and starry-eyed romantics.
—Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for starry-eyed
Adjective
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While Paris is often framed as endlessly romantic, Wells says the day-to-day realities can be isolating.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
8 Jan. 2026
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Safe to say a breakup album is off the table, as the artist is back in her romantic era.—
Emily Kelleher,
InStyle,
7 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Unlike classical supercomputers, which excel at simulations and data-heavy tasks, quantum computers operate on fundamentally different principles, enabling new approaches to solving problems that are considered impractical using traditional computing methods.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Jan. 2026
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At first glance, the energy cost of swimming thousands of miles — often without stopping to feed or rest — seems both impractical and impossible.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Yet his passion became a rare species of idealistic extremism.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Jan. 2026
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But, as idealistic and well-intentioned as Remmick might present himself, the vampire will nevertheless take with force what he's not given.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Urbano’s installations, radically utopian in this sense, re-create ideal spaces free from the spatiotemporal coordinates and rigid laws that govern our daily lives.—
Javier Montes,
Artforum,
1 Jan. 2026
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This is a scrapbook of utopian folly, yes, but also an insider’s look at what was, for a time, the wildest workplace on Earth.—
Andrew Holter,
The Atlantic,
31 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Starry-eyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/starry-eyed. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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