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pipe-dream

[ pahyp-dreem ]
/ ˈpaɪpˌdrim /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pipe-dream ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), pipe-dreamed or pipe-dreamt, pipe-dream·ing.

to indulge in pipe dreams; fantasize.

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RELATED WORDS

daydream, guess, read, hypothesize, wonder, reflect, contemplate, weigh, ruminate, surmise, conjecture, cerebrate, consider, figure, deliberate, study, dope, muse, excogitate, brainstorm

Nearby words

  1. pipe snake,
  2. pipe up,
  3. pipe vine,
  4. pipe wrench,
  5. pipe-clay,
  6. pipe-layer,
  7. pipe-rack,
  8. pipeclay,
  9. piped music,
  10. pipefish

pipe dream

noun

any fantastic notion, hope, or story: Her plans for a movie career are just a pipe dream.

Origin of pipe dream

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pipe-dream

British Dictionary definitions for pipe-dream

pipe dream

noun

a fanciful or impossible plan or hope

Word Origin for pipe dream

alluding to dreams produced by smoking an opium pipe
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
Word Origin and History for pipe-dream

pipe dream

n.

1870; the sort of improbable fantasy one has while smoking opium; from pipe (n.1) + dream (n.). Old English pipdream meant "piping."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with pipe-dream

pipe dream

A fantastic notion or vain hope, as in I'd love to have one home in the mountains and another at the seashore, but that's just a pipe dream. Alluding to the fantasies induced by smoking an opium pipe, this term has been used more loosely since the late 1800s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.