pipe dream
any fantastic notion, hope, or story: Her plans for a movie career are just a pipe dream.
Origin of pipe dream
1Other definitions for pipe-dream (2 of 2)
to indulge in pipe dreams; fantasize.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pipe dream in a sentence
It barely raised an eyebrow, perhaps because many assumed it was yet another iteration of the same old pipedream.
China’s Nicaragua Canal Could Spark a New Central America Revolution | Nina Lakhani | November 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
British Dictionary definitions for pipe dream
a fanciful or impossible plan or hope
Origin of pipe dream
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with 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® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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