visionary

1 having or marked by a tendency to be guided more by ideals than by reality a visionary plan for a manned flight to Mars even though there are pressing problems right here on earth Synonyms idealist, quixotic, quixotical, romantic, starry, starry-eyed, utopian, idealisticRelated Words impractical, unrealistic; crusading, messianic, zealous; dewy-eyed, moonstruck, moony, sentimental, tender-minded; hopeful, optimistic, Pollyannaish (also Pollyannish), rosy, upbeat; doctrinaire, ideological (also ideologic)Near Antonyms hardheaded, hard-nosed, tough-minded, unsentimental; practical, pragmatic (also pragmatical), realisticAntonyms clear-eyed, clear-sighted

2 not real and existing only in the imagination one of several Christian saints who claimed to have had visionary experiences of hell Synonyms chimerical (also chimeric), fabulous, fanciful, fantasied, fantastic (also fantastical), fictional, fictitious, ideal, imaginal, imagined, invented, made-up, make-believe, mythical (or mythic), notional, phantasmal, phantasmic, phantom, pretend, unreal, visonaryRelated Words fabled, legendary, romantic; abstract, hypothetical, theoretical (also theoretic); unbelievable, unconvincing, unlikely; conceived, envisaged, envisioned, pictured, visualized; daydreamlike, deceptive, delusional, delusive, hallucinatory, illusory, phantasmagoric (or phantasmagorical); concocted, fabricated, feigned, fictive; inexistent, nonexistentNear Antonyms authentic, genuine, true; factual, verifiable, verified; believable, convincing, realistic; corporeal, material, physical, solid, substantial; palpable, tangibleAntonyms actual, existent, existing, real

3 having or showing awareness of and preparation for the future in a visionary move, the developer bought large tracts of the waterfront just before property values skyrocketed Synonyms farseeing, farsighted, forehanded, foreseeing, forethoughtful, forward, forward-looking, prescient, proactive, provident, foresightedRelated Words careful, cautious, heedful; discerning, insightful, perceptive, percipient, prudent, sagacious, sage, sapient, wiseNear Antonyms careless, heedless, incautiousAntonyms half-baked, half-cocked, improvident, myopic, shortsighted

1 one who predicts future events or developments according to Greek myth, Cassandra was a visionary who was endowed with the gift of inerrant prophecy but fated to never be believed Synonyms augur, diviner, forecaster, foreseer, foreteller, fortune-teller, futurist, prognosticator, prophesier, seer, soothsayer, prophetRelated Words prophetess, sibyl, wisewoman; mystic, oracle; astrologer, crystal gazer, palmist, rhabdomancer; Cassandra, doomsayer, doomsdayer, Jeremiah

2 one whose conduct is guided more by the image of perfection than by the real world 19th-century visionaries who founded short-lived communities in which everyone was supposed to live in perfect peace and harmony Synonyms Don Quixote, dreamer, fantast, idealizer, ideologue (also idealogue), romantic, romanticist, utopian, idealistRelated Words emotionalist, sentimentalist; daydreamer, fantasizer, woolgatherer; Micawber, optimist, Pollyanna; do-gooder, reformer; perfectionist; doctrinaire, theorist, thinkerNear Antonyms cynic, defeatist, pessimist; empiric, empiricistAntonyms hardnose, pragmatist, realist