7 results for: quixotic

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

quix·ot·ic

Audio Help [kwik-sot-ik] Pronunciation Key

–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 (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
quixotic

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

quix·ot·ic Audio Help (kwĭk-sŏt'ĭk) Pronunciation Key
adj.

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

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

quixotic
adjective
not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic; "as quixotic as a restoration of medieval knighthood"; "a romantic disregard for money"; "a wild-eyed dream of a world state"