Mitty

American

[mit-ee] / ˈmɪt i /

noun

Walter Mitty.

Mitty British

/ ˈmɪtɪ /

noun

1. a fictional character given to grand and elaborate fantasies; daydreamer
2. ( as modifier )
  
  a Walter Mitty character
  a Mitty act

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Etymology

Origin of Mitty

C20: from a short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1939), by James _Thurber

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.

Carell: My instinct was to not make Greg a nebbish, because I didn’t want it to be Walter Mitty.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2026

Jones said many in the veteran's community felt Walter Mitty hunters were doing a public service, but cautioned there was always the risk of causing harm to the individual being targeted.

From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026

Those behind the Walter Mitty Hunters Club would not speak to me directly - or tell me who they are - but in message exchanges told me they were all ex-service personnel.

From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026

The attorney compared him to Walter Mitty, the character with the boring office job who escapes into elaborate imaginative worlds — a defense Sexton hated.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 14, 2025

“To aging Walter Mitty types like myself, Dick Bass was an inspiration,” Seaborn Beck Weathers explained in a thick East Texas twang during the trek to Everest Base Camp last April.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023