adjective
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wildly fanciful; imaginary
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given to or indulging in fantasies
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of chimerical
Explanation
Use the adjective chimerical to describe something that is wildly fanciful or imaginative — like the chimerical illustrations of magical creatures in a children's book. A chimera was a fire-breathing monster from Greek mythology made from three different animals: a lion at its head, a goat in the middle, and a serpent at the end. The first surviving mention of the beast is in Homer's The Iliad. From this fantastical creature, English created the adjective chimerical to describe wild figments of the imagination.
Vocabulary lists containing chimerical
Frankenstein
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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.
Amid the piece’s slippery, chimerical atmosphere, a solo clarinet, played by Jon Manasse, emerged with sweetly mellow innocence, like a child’s voice in an urban variation of Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915.”
From New York Times • Aug. 7, 2023
Claims made for the abilities or perils of AI chatbots have often turned out to be mistaken or chimerical.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 13, 2023
Which is to say, this was a precious, anticipated, frankly anxious affair — the materialization of a beloved and mercurial performer moving from the chimerical to the literal.
From New York Times • Apr. 26, 2023
A film museum had been a seemingly chimerical dream within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences virtually since its founding in 1927.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2021
However many dreams she had navigated, whatever chimerical fancies she had witnessed, she had never interacted.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
