idealist

American  

[ahy-dee-uh-list] / aɪˈdi ə lɪst /

noun

1. a person who cherishes or pursues high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc.

   Synonyms:

   utopianist, visionary, reformer, perfectionist, optimist

   Antonyms:

   cynic, skeptic, pragmatist

2. a visionary or impractical person.

   Synonyms:

   stargazer, dreamer, romanticist, romantic

   Antonyms:

   materialist, realist

3. a person who represents things as they might or should be rather than as they are.

   My friend is an idealist, who somehow thinks that we always agree.

4. a writer or artist who treats subjects imaginatively.

5. a person who accepts the doctrines of philosophical idealism, as by representing things in an ideal form, or as they might or should be rather than as they are.

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adjective

1. of or relating to idealism or idealists; idealistic.

Pop Culture

—Idealist.org: a job-search website that connects people who want to work or volunteer their services with not-for-profit organizations.

Other Word Forms

• anti-idealist noun
• hyperidealist noun
• superidealist noun

Etymology

Origin of idealist

First recorded in 1695–1705; ideal + -ist

Example Sentences

Maguire and his staff are hippie idealists, wary of sullying their political mission with trivialities like record reviews.

From Los Angeles Times

Amodei is an idealist who represents the historically liberal wing of Silicon Valley, concerned about unleashing AI without proper guardrails.

From The Wall Street Journal

Love is never that simple, and Song’s take on the romantic comedy is not for the idealists who believe it can be.

From Salon

“A moral man who led an immoral life, an idealist who had betrayed his ideals. No one despised Richard as much as Richard himself.”

From Los Angeles Times

And Chinese media describe him as a "technical idealist" - he insists on keeping DeepSeek as an open-source platform.

From BBC

Related Words

• dreamer
• optimist
• visionary