pipe dream

¹ American  

noun

1. any fantastic notion, hope, or story.

   Her plans for a movie career are just a pipe dream.

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pipe-dream ² American  

[pahyp-dreem] / ˈpaɪpˌdrim /

verb (used without object)

pipe-dreamed, pipe-dreamt, pipe-dreaming

1. to indulge in pipe dreams; fantasize.

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pipe dream British  

noun

1. a fanciful or impossible plan or hope

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pipe dream Idioms  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of pipe dream

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Example Sentences

When Koy was moving up the comedy ranks under his real name Joseph Glenn Herbert, the thought of calling himself a comedian felt like a pipe dream.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 5, 2026

Purity is a pipe dream, though, because the politics of quitting booze are, like drinkers themselves, messy.

From Slate • Feb. 15, 2026

But for much of America’s 250-year history, eight-hour work days and five-day workweeks were a pipe dream.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 11, 2025

Against their great rivals in Indore, they had spells where they competed - again, something that was nothing more than a pipe dream at the beginning of the year.

From BBC • Oct. 22, 2025

Every heads-up penny found and daydream and night dream and even when people say it's a pipe dream .

From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson

Related Words

• daydream
• wishful thinking