Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective quixotic contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of quixotic are chimerical, fanciful, fantastic, imaginary, and visionary. While all these words mean "unreal or unbelievable," quixotic implies a devotion to romantic or chivalrous ideals unrestrained by ordinary prudence and common sense.

a quixotic crusade

How does the word chimerical relate to other synonyms for quixotic?

Chimerical combines the implication of visionary and fantastic.

chimerical dreams of future progress

When can fanciful be used instead of quixotic?

The words fanciful and quixotic can be used in similar contexts, but fanciful suggests the free play of the imagination.

a teller of fanciful stories

When would fantastic be a good substitute for quixotic?

While the synonyms fantastic and quixotic are close in meaning, fantastic implies incredibility or strangeness beyond belief.

a fantastic world inhabited by monsters

When is imaginary a more appropriate choice than quixotic?

The meanings of imaginary and quixotic largely overlap; however, imaginary applies to something which is fictitious and purely the product of one's imagination.

an imaginary desert isle

When is it sensible to use visionary instead of quixotic?

While in some cases nearly identical to quixotic, visionary stresses impracticality or incapability of realization.

visionary schemes

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 quixotic On the Github page for the quixotic project, coder ading2210 discusses how Adobe Acrobat included some robust support for JavaScript in the PDF file format. Ars Technica, 15 Jan. 2025 Yet much like Carter’s earnest but quixotic attempt ... Michael S. Rose, National Review, 4 Jan. 2025 Best Buy has a bunch of PlayStation 5 games on sale for super-low prices this weekend, but our top pick is Hideo Kojima's quixotic post-Metal Gear project Death Stranding. K. Thor Jensen, PCMAG, 6 Dec. 2024 As so began a quixotic quest, snowballing into winter, cheered by skiers and snowboarders in Oregon and beyond, to raise about $200 million and wrest Mt. Bachelor from the corporate titans of a consolidating industry. John Branch, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for quixotic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quixotic
Adjective
  • There’s something inexorably romantic and swashbucklingly adventurous about commercial space travel—about normal people, non-astronauts like you and me, well, being astronauts.
    Raven Smith, Vogue, 15 Apr. 2025
  • The Dining Room serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or arrange for a romantic oceanfront dinner on the beach.
    Cynthia J Drake, Southern Living, 14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Tapping into the endowment may be impractical for several reasons, including that some of it is legally restricted, but also because some of the unrestricted money is tied up in illiquid assets, such as in hedge funds, private equity and real estate that can’t be easily sold.
    Kara Scannell, CNN Money, 18 Apr. 2025
  • Blockchain might revolutionize insurance claim processing while proving impractical for emergency communications.
    Chloe Demrovsky, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • This idealistic, soulful sign often seeks out a respite that allows for opportunities to reconnect with themselves (mind, body, and soul) in some way—preferably near water, explains astrologer and life coach Lauren DeGolia.
    Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 12 Apr. 2025
  • Forgive me if this sounds very idealistic.
    Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • There would be adverts for iPhones that were utopian with interesting-looking people smiling holding these shiny devices.
    Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2025
  • But Scott also looked at German scientific forestry; collective farming in the Soviet Union and Tanzania; utopian city planning in Chandigarh, India, and in Brasília; and Vladimir Lenin’s theories about the formation of revolutionary parties.
    Nikil Saval, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • This, in turn, becomes logically reliant on the idealist paradigm of Consciousness as the fundamental lowest common denominator of reality.
    Carlo Tortora Brayda, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Labour leader Starmer, though, has taken a realist rather than an idealist approach to the president, putting Britain's foreign policy interests above the strong opposition to Trump in the rank and file of his own party.
    Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 3 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Quixotic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quixotic. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.

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