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Synonyms

Don Quixote

American  
[don kee-hoh-tee, don kwik-suht, dawn kee-haw-te] / ˌdɒn kiˈhoʊ ti, dɒn ˈkwɪk sət, dɔn kiˈhɔ tɛ /

noun

  1. the hero of a novel by Cervantes who was inspired by lofty and chivalrous but impractical ideals.

  2. (italics) (Don Quixote de la Mancha ) the novel itself (1605 and 1615).

Don Quixote British  
/ ˈkwɪksət, don kiˈxote, ˈdɒn kiːˈhəʊtiː /

noun

  1. an impractical idealist

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Don Quixote Cultural  

  1. (1605–1615) A novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The hero, Don Quixote (don is a Spanish title of honor), loses his wits from reading too many romances and comes to believe that he is a knight destined to revive the golden age of chivalry. A tall, gaunt man in armor, he has many comical adventures with his fat squire, Sancho Panza.

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A person who is both idealistic and impractical is often said to be “quixotic.”

Etymology

Origin of Don Quixote

after the hero of Cervantes' Don Quixote de la Mancha

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.

Any investor panic the writing caused was short-lived, although if fiction can now tank stocks, I’m a little worried about what Moby-Dick means for SeaWorld’s parent company, or Don Quixote for the wind energy sector.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

This has been such a great few years for retellings of the classics — from Barbara Kingsolver’s updated David Copperfield to Salman Rushdie’s zany Don Quixote.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 5, 2026

But he’s more of a Don Quixote tilting at windmills because his solutions amount to the same level of self-delusion.

From Salon • Nov. 29, 2025

Over 20 years with the company, he danced leads across several productions, including Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet.

From BBC • Nov. 17, 2024

The xis pronounced here, though it sounds like an h in the name it comes from, Don Quixote.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

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.