pipe dream

See synonyms for pipe dream on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any fantastic notion, hope, or story: Her plans for a movie career are just a pipe dream.

Origin of pipe dream

1
An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Other definitions for pipe-dream (2 of 2)

pipe-dream
[ pahyp-dreem ]

verb (used without object),pipe-dreamed or pipe-dreamt, pipe-dream·ing.
  1. 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

British Dictionary definitions for pipe dream

pipe dream

noun
  1. a fanciful or impossible plan or hope

Origin of pipe dream

1
alluding to dreams produced by smoking an opium pipe

Collins 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

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.