Advertisement
Advertisement
pipe dream
1noun
- any fantastic notion, hope, or story:
Her plans for a movie career are just a pipe dream.
pipe-dream
2[ pahyp-dreem ]
verb (used without object)
- to indulge in pipe dreams; fantasize.
pipe dream
noun
- a fanciful or impossible plan or hope
Discover More
Word History and Origins
Origin of pipe dream1
Discover More
Word History and Origins
Origin of pipe dream1
Discover More
Idioms and Phrases
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.Discover More
Example Sentences
I was drawn to The Class for different reasons—chiefly, the pipe dream of achieving a tighter and tauter backside.
First of all, the idea that Childers ever had any kind of chance of winning a Senate seat in Mississippi was a pipe dream.
But getting our divided, dysfunctional Congress to agree on a course of action seems like a pipe dream.
Yet it's a pipe dream to hope for a trancendent figure to help the GOP cleanse itself of the fringe.
In other words, in the realm of what has been called the “bio-doc,” objectivity is an elusive pipe dream.
I was about to give you a message from his majesty our king, but if you're on a pipe dream don't let me call you home.
But how among countless suggestions is a "cause" to know the difference between a true invention and a pipe-dream?
This is no pipe dream or a simple newspaper yarn, but the plain truth.
I have been trying to believe that what he told me isn't altogether a pipe-dream, but it sounds mightily like one.
"Sounds like a pipe-dream," commented Matt, when his chum had finished.
Advertisement
Discover More
Related Words
Word of the Day
[fur-kin ]
Meaning and examplesStart each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!
By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse