UTOPIAN Synonyms: 65 Similar and Opposite Words

utopian 1 of 2

adjective

yu̇-ˈtō-pē-ən

Definition of utopian

as in romantic

having or marked by a tendency to be guided more by ideals than by reality a plan to revitalize the city's decaying downtown that proved to be overly ambitious and utopian

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

utopian

2 of 2

noun

as in dreamer

one whose conduct is guided more by the image of perfection than by the real world in the 19th century utopians founded a number of short-lived socialist communities

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of utopian

Adjective

Zuckerberg’s hope is that these developers will use that freedom to develop user-friendly apps and businesses that will eventually usher in utopian AI tech to the average person. — Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2026 Incidentally, the same goes for hyperbolically utopian (exuberant prosperity for all) or dystopian (humanoid robots in charge) visions of the future, which make any form of planning pointless. — Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026

Noun

But the American leaders who midwifed the UN as World War II was still raging were somber realists, not utopians. — Andreas Kluth, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025 If not, these elements of Musk’s project are likely to remain more theoretical, just as the dreams of last century’s techno-utopians did. — Sonja Fritzsche, The Conversation, 9 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for utopian

Recent Examples of Synonyms for utopian

Adjective

The Saturday Night Live alum worked with Fey on that show and on his current romantic dramedy, Netflix’s The Four Seasons.

— Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Sep. 2026
But though these chemicals are linked to mating in animal species, a link between pheromones and romantic attraction hasn’t been established in humans.

— Rachel Hale, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of romantic

Noun

The Holbrook sisters are undersocialized and inexperienced with the world, and Herzog sees them as figures out of a fable, dreamers who talk incessantly about love and seem connected to the elemental and the ancient.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2026
San Francisco Playhouse is currently presenting the musical, helmed by company artistic director Bill English (with Phaedra Tillery-Boughton credited as associate director) and starring Ella Ruth Francis as the indefatigable dreamer Tracy Turnblad.

— Randy McMullen, Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of dreamer

Adjective

First glimpsed in The Empire Strikes Back and heavily featured in Return of the Jedi are typical of the Empire; designed to instil fear, but laughably impractical.

— Chris McMullen, Space.com, 5 Sep. 2026
Without the proper port facilities, regulations, safety protocols, and other essentials, nuclear cargo ships are as impractical as steamships without coal or oil refueling stations.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of impractical

Adjective

After an idealistic youth and a subsequent nervous breakdown, our eldest Ramona, Ramona Jover, eventually finds strength in resignation to what a woman born in the 1800s can ever do or be.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Aug. 2026
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

Definition of idealistic

Adjective

Another official argument is that terrorism generally involves political or ideological aims, while cartels are primarily motivated by profit.

— María Verza, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2026
Another official argument is that terrorism generally involves political or ideological aims, while cartels primarily are motivated by profit.

— María Verza, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of ideological

Adjective

Sagittarius is an idealist sign that can totally relate to this tale of enduring relationships.

— Lisa Stardust, PEOPLE, 9 Jan. 2026
The contact with and dependence on such support arguably also bolstered art’s worldliness and acted as an antidote to the petit bourgeois affinity for idealist mystification.

— Diedrich Diederichsen, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025

Definition of idealist

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“Utopian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/utopian. Accessed 7 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of utopian

adjective

noun

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