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 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 The goal should not be eradicating EOL—a quixotic effort—but rather determining and defending acceptable risk. Ismail Amla, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025 Jim’s funneling of his grief into a quixotic search for certainty, rather than moving on, is as much a thematic trope as his wall crammed with data and theories is a visual one. Alison Herman, Variety, 2 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for quixotic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quixotic
Adjective
  • Although there are some romantic storylines in the show, Hudson doesn’t see it so much as a return to rom-coms as a family comedy.
    Kirsten Chuba, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Feb. 2025
  • In Sorrentino’s take on the myth and love letter to Naples, Parthenope spends her youthful summers falling in love and searching for meaning through her academics and romantic relationships.
    Matt Minton, Variety, 27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • These scenarios are impractical or impossible with other virtualization software.
    PCMAG, PCMAG, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Traditional transport methods were deemed too impractical and stressful for the beavers, making aerial relocation the most viable option.
    Scott Travers, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • The 35-year-old actor — who found fame during his 9-season run as Cisco Ramon on The Flash — is back on Broadway after an 11-year absence, leading the company of the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown as the idealistic and open-hearted musician, Orpheus.
    Dave Quinn, People.com, 3 Mar. 2025
  • The idealistic progressive laws of the seventies—those mandating environmental review, safety and anti-corruption standards, historic preservation, prevailing wages, and, most important, local power over zoning—had meant to protect small communities against moneyed interests.
    Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Reality check: Some outside commentators see techno as telling a dystopian story in Detroit, amid population decline and auto industry layoffs, contrasted with a free, post-Cold War utopian narrative in Europe, according to MSU English professor Julian Chambliss.
    Annalise Frank, Axios, 27 Feb. 2025
  • The series is co-created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, and follows the origins of iconic League champions Vi and Jinx, two sisters who find themselves on either side of the power struggle between the utopian city of Piltover and the oppressed underground city of Zaun.
    Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 19 Feb. 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 12 Mar. 2025.

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