adjective
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wildly fanciful; imaginary
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given to or indulging in fantasies
Other Word 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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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 7
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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.
Projections of economic gains from major sporting events are typically optimistic, euphoric, chimerical or conjectural.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2025
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
It is only natural, then, that in an age of extreme guilt, when in very tangible ways we feel as if we have failed the Earth itself, the chimerical enemy should be all too human.
From New York Times • Feb. 16, 2023
In his eyes, though, speed is not where true value lies in a social media world, and particularly in that portion of it devoted to soccer’s chaotic, contradictory and often chimerical transfer market.
From New York Times • Jan. 24, 2022
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.
