castle in the air
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of castle in the air
First recorded in 1570–80
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.
Fittingly for a boy in a centuries-old town in what was then Communist East Germany, his was no ordinary castle in the air.
From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2014
His face and eyes shine as he hurries towards his doom, blinded by a beautiful delusion, his own personal castle in the air.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 16, 2010
“Now that castle in the air has a foundation underneath it and is becoming an impending reality.”
From Washington Post
At night, the visitors watched parades of skirling pipers and stared up at the famed Castle, floating in floodlights like a castle in the air.
From Time Magazine Archive
I do talk about “after the war,” but it’s as if I were talking about a castle in the air, something that can never come true.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
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.
