quixotic

adjective

quix·​ot·​ic kwik-ˈsä-tik 

1

: foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals

especially : marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action

2

: capricious, unpredictable

quixotical

kwik-ˈsä-ti-kəl 

adjective

quixotically

kwik-ˈsä-ti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Did you know?

Quixotic Has Roots in Literature

If you guessed that quixotic has something to do with Don Quixote, you're absolutely right. The hero of Miguel de Cervantes' 17th-century Spanish novel El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (in English "The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha") didn't change the world by tilting at windmills, but he did leave a linguistic legacy in English. The adjective quixotic is based on his name and has been used to describe unrealistic idealists since at least the early 18th century. The novel has given English other words as well. Dulcinea, the name of Quixote's beloved, has come to mean "mistress" or "sweetheart," and rosinante, which is sometimes used to refer to an old horse, comes from the name of the hero's less-than-gallant steed, Rocinante.

Synonyms

• idealist
• idealistic
• quixotical
• romantic
• starry
• starry-eyed
• utopian
• visionary

Choose the Right Synonym for quixotic

imaginary, fanciful, visionary, fantastic, chimerical, quixotic mean unreal or unbelievable.

imaginary applies to something which is fictitious and purely the product of one's imagination.

an imaginary desert isle

fanciful suggests the free play of the imagination.

a teller of fanciful stories

visionary stresses impracticality or incapability of realization.

visionary schemes

fantastic implies incredibility or strangeness beyond belief.

a fantastic world inhabited by monsters

chimerical combines the implication of visionary and fantastic.

chimerical dreams of future progress

quixotic implies a devotion to romantic or chivalrous ideals unrestrained by ordinary prudence and common sense.

a quixotic crusade

Examples of quixotic in a Sentence

In … an earnest book-length essay of neo-Victorian public-mindedness that deplores the "nasty, knowing abuse" that the author would have us fear contaminates too much American humor lately, David Denby, a movie critic for The New Yorker, sets for himself what has to be one of the most quixotic projects that a moral reformer can undertake. —Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review, 22 Feb. 2009

The history of biblical oil prospecting is filled with quixotic quests and colorful characters, starting with Welsie Hancock, a wealthy California man who in the 1960s dreamed that Jesus told him he would find black gold in the Holy Land. He sunk his entire fortune into two dry holes. —Mariah Blake, Mother Jones, January and February 2008

Mumey had announced his candidacy as an independent in the partisan election, which meant that he needed 2,300 signatures of registered voters in order to get on the ballot in the fall. It seemed a quixotic adventure, given the small size of Celebration and Mumey's lack of name recognition outside the town. —Douglas Frantz et al., Celebration, USA, 1999

They had quixotic dreams about the future.

in this age of giant chain stores, any attempt at operating an independent bookstore must be regarded as quixotic

Recent Examples on the Web

If not the quixotic quest for the playoffs, then as a testament to quality for players and coaches and a momentum starter for the 2025 season. —Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 6 Dec. 2024

There are the holidays, there is the cooler weather, there are the end-of-year lists, the quixotic New Year's resolutions, all manner of things. —Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 29 Nov. 2024

Bush launched a quixotic attempt to privatize America's most popular entitlement program. —Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024

First, an anecdote about my battle, mostly quixotic, against tax credits. —Roger Valdez, Forbes, 6 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Don Quixote

First Known Use

1718, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

quixotic

adjective

quix·​ot·​ic kwik-ˈsät-ik 

: impractical especially in the foolish pursuit of ideals

quixotically

-ˈsät-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Etymology

from Don Quixote, hero of the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Cervantes