pipe dream
Use Pipe dream in a sentencepipe dream
noun
any fantastic notion, hope, or story: Her plans for a movie career are just a pipe dream.
Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism
1895–1900, Americanism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To pipe dream
00:10
Pipe dream
is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
| pipe dream | |
| —n | |
| a fanciful or impossible plan or hope | |
| [alluding to dreams produced by smoking an opium pipe] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
pipe dream
A fantastic notion or vain hope, as in I'd love to have one home in the mountains and another at the seashore, but that's just a pipe dream. Alluding to the fantasies induced by smoking an opium pipe, this term has been used more loosely since the late 1800s.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
We may dismiss it as sci-fi fantasy or a spooky pipe dream, but wearables are here.
In this kind of reality, downsizing while maintaining quality is largely a pipe dream.
Addressed to the wrong name, before telling her her ambitions were a pipe dream.
The doubters conclude from this that solar energy is a pipe dream, hardly worth the effort.
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