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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

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.

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