quixotic
Americanadjective
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(of a goal, action, or impulse) characterized by impractical idealism or by extravagant chivalry and romantic imagination.
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impulsive, overeager, or capricious.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) resembling or befitting Don Quixote.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- half-quixotic adjective
- half-quixotically adverb
- quixotically adverb
- quixotism noun
- unquixotic adjective
- unquixotical adjective
- unquixotically adverb
Etymology
Origin of quixotic
First recorded in 1805–15; (Don) Quixote + -ic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Though Darshan’s quest might seem quixotic, legal experts say the government is evaluating more cases like his.
This goal, far more abstract than a daily word count, demands a correspondingly quixotic process.
With its aims so quixotic and its ambitions so extravagant, the movement was destined to fail.
What the film shows us, in what seems a very honest if impressionistic depiction, is that most of the world was not necessarily obsessed with rock and pop and quixotic campaigns to change the world.
The other advantage was their quixotic approach to financial markets: They were consciously looking for long shots.
From Literature
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.