WILL-O'-THE-WISPS Synonyms: 36 Similar and Opposite Words

will-o'-the-wisps

noun

plural of will-o'-the-wisp

as in pipe dreams

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for will-o'-the-wisps

Noun

As the league and union continue amassing their respective war chests for the next CBA four-to-five years down the road, the last thing the league needs to do publicly is depict pipe dreams as front-burner issues.

— Jonathan Jones, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
Arendt then cited Wilhelm Marr’s Sieg des Judentums über das Germanentum (The Victory of Judaism over Teutonism, 1869), thus lining up all the antisemitic pipe dreams that came close to fulfillment.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of pipe dreams

Noun

And amidst the momentum of reverie, there’s the line ‘Blink at the light and hope to survive,’ because daydreams in a fascist state can be scary too.

— Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 23 June 2026
One-touch passing, feinting and ripping hard shots into a tattered net, each is super-charged by vivid daydreams of glory on the international stage.

— Jason Motlagh, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2026

Definition of daydreams

Noun

The problems with mail ballots These easily explained mirages don’t necessarily mean that mail-ballot fraud is a nonissue and that there is nothing to be concerned about.

— Andrew E. Busch, The Conversation, 23 July 2026
These wall drawings—at the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, in 2024; the Art Institute of Chicago, in 2025; and Houston’s Menil Collection, in 2025—were all temporary, like frolicsome mirages.

— Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 2 June 2026

Definition of mirages

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will-o'-the-wisp

will-o'-the-wisps

willowy

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“Will-o'-the-wisps.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/will-o%27-the-wisps. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of will-o'-the-wisps

noun

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