Word of the Day

: August 3, 2007

Walter Mitty

noun wawl-ter-MITT-ee

What It Means

: a commonplace unadventurous person who seeks escape from reality through daydreaming

Walter Mitty in Context

"Many readers seem to be Walter Mittys, content to experience danger vicariously." (James Kelly, Time Magazine, August 19, 1985)

Did You Know?

The original "Walter Mitty" was created by humorist James Thurber, who wrote the famous story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." In Walter's real life, he is a reticent, henpecked proofreader befuddled by everyday life. But in his fantasies, Walter imagines himself as various daring and heroic characters. Thurber's popular story, which was first published in The New Yorker in 1939, was later made into a movie. Walter Mitty has since become the eponym for dreamers who imagine themselves in dramatic or heroic situations.