Quixotic

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Quixotic \Quix*ot"ic\ (kw[i^]ks*[o^]t"[i^]k), a.
     1. Like Don Quixote; romantic to extravagance; prone to
        pursue unrealizable goals; absurdly chivalric; apt to be
        deluded. See also {quixotism}. "Feats of quixotic
        gallantry." --Prescott.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. Like the deeds of Don Quixote; ridiculously impractical;
        unachievable; extravagantly romantic; doomed to failure;
        as, a quixotic quest.
        [PJC]
  
              The word "quixotic" . . . has entered the common
              language, with the meaning "hopelessly naive and
              idealistic," "ridiculously impractical," "doomed to
              fail." That this epithet can be used now in an
              exclusively pejorative sense not only shows that we
              have ceased to read Cervantes and to understand his
              character, but more fundamentally it reveals that
              our culture has drifted away from its spiritual
              roots.                                --Simon Leys
                                                    (N. Y. Review
                                                    of Books, June
                                                    11, 1998, p.
                                                    35)
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  quixotic
       adj : not sensible about practical matters; unrealistic; "as
             quixotic as a restoration of medieval knighthood"; "a
             romantic disregard for money"; "a wild-eyed dream of a
             world state" [syn: {romantic}, {wild-eyed}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  35 Moby Thesaurus words for "quixotic":
     absurd, airy, autistic, chimerical, dereistic, dreamlike, dreamy,
     fanciful, fantastic, foolhardy, idealistic, impracticable,
     impractical, in the clouds, mad, optimistic, otherworldly, poetic,
     preposterous, rash, reckless, ridiculous, romancing, romantic,
     romanticized, starry-eyed, storybook, transcendental, transmundane,
     unpractical, unrealistic, unrealizable, visionary, wild,
     wish-fulfilling
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  QUIXOTIC, adj.  Absurdly chivalric, like Don Quixote.  An insight into
  the beauty and excellence of this incomparable adjective is unhappily
  denied to him who has the misfortune to know that the gentleman's name
  is pronounced Ke-ho-tay.
  
      When ignorance from out of our lives can banish
      Philology, 'tis folly to know Spanish.
                                                              Juan Smith