cloudland

American  

[kloud-land] / ˈklaʊdˌlænd /

noun

1. the sky.

2. a region of unreality, imagination, etc.; dreamland.

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Etymology

Origin of cloudland

First recorded in 1810–20; cloud + -land

Explanation

Someone who’s always daydreaming or talking about wild, impractical ideas may be spending too much time in cloudland — a mental dreamland or state ruled by imagination and unreality. If you say that someone always "has their head in the clouds," it means that they're absent-mindedly dreamy and impractical, guided by whimsy. You could say that they're living in cloudland. The term is also used to describe the sky, where clouds wander by aimlessly, seemingly free from the cares and concerns that people face down on the ground. So if you’re spending a lot of time gazing up at the sky and wondering if it's really possible for pigs to fly (instead of doing your math homework), it’s probably time to get out of cloudland.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cloudland

Her private cloudland, on exhibition in a Manhattan gallery last week, might depress some people but would hardly disturb anybody.

From Time Magazine Archive

IN the cloudland of higher mathematics, there is a whole area of study called "imaginary numbers."

From Time Magazine Archive

Indeed, its wildest moments are from that forgotten cloudland of the '30s and '40s when every performer was expected to carry a tune.

From Time Magazine Archive

The ten years' business experience had wallowed through a cloudland of dreams, but had materialized in very harsh daylight at last.

From The Bread Line A Story of a Paper by Paine, Albert Bigelow

He very likely belongs to that pretty cottage whose redbrick gable peeps out through a cloudland of trees yonder.

From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Stables, Gordon