airy-fairy

American  

[air-ee-fair-ee] / ˈɛər iˈfɛər i /

adjective

1. Informal. delicate or lovely.

   an airy-fairy actress;

   an airy-fairy nightgown.

2. Informal. not based on reality or concerned with mundane affairs; unrealistic.

   He'd better get rid of those airy-fairy ideas about spending a fortune that isn't even his.

3. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. effeminate.

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airy-fairy British  

/ ˈɛərɪˈfɛərɪ /

adjective

1. informal fanciful and unrealistic

   an airy-fairy scheme

2. delicate to the point of being insubstantial; light

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Etymology

Origin of airy-fairy

First recorded in 1830–40, perhaps originally in the phrase “airy, fairy Lilian” in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem “Lilian” (1830)

Example Sentences

But to call Ukraine's semi-autocratic and corruption-plagued government a democracy only suggests how much that term has been degraded, and it's painfully naive to believe that the vast U.S. investment in military aid to Ukraine has anything to do with such airy-fairy concepts.

From Salon

We're not just going off on some airy-fairy, mystical journey here, that what we're trying to do is the latest and greatest science that's revealing these human-like traits among these charismatic ocean animals.

From Salon

The movie version “leaps from raunchy to charming, vulgar to sweet, earthy to airy-fairy without allowing any one to settle,” Jeannette Catsoulis wrote in her review for The Times.

From New York Times

"Rory Stewart, although I don't agree with many of his policies and much of what he said today actually, the one thing he did say correctly today was a lot of what these people are claiming is airy-fairy, there is not much substance to it, it is a whole load of hollow promises, they are promising things which they voted against themselves previously so I'm not inclined to vote for any of them really."

From BBC

Cliché and airy-fairy as it sounds, I re-met myself in Paris.

From The Guardian