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quixotic

 - 3 dictionary results

quix⋅ot⋅ic

  [kwik-sot-ik]
Use quixotic in a Sentence
–adjective
1. (sometimes initial capital letter) resembling or befitting Don Quixote.
2. extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable.
3. impulsive and often rashly unpredictable.
Also, quix⋅ot⋅i⋅cal.

Origin:
1805–15; ( Don ) Quixote + -ic

Related forms:
quix⋅ot⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
2. fanciful, fantastic, imaginary.

Antonyms:
2. realistic, practical.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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quix·ot·ic   (kwĭk-sŏt'ĭk)   
adj.  

  1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.

  2. Capricious; impulsive: "At worst his scruples must have been quixotic, not malicious" (Louis Auchincloss).


[From English Quixote, a visionary, after Don Quixote, hero of a romance by Miguel de Cervantes.]
quix·ot'i·cal·ly adv., quix'o·tism (kwĭk'sə-tĭz'əm) n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

quixotic 
"extravagantly chivalrous," 1791, from Don Quixote, romantic, impractical hero of Cervantes' satirical novel "Don Quixote de la Mancha" (1605). His name lit. means "thigh," also "a cuisse" (a piece of armor for the thigh), in Mod.Sp. quijote, from L. coxa "hip."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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