quixotic
Americanadjective
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(of a goal, action, or impulse) characterized by impractical idealism or by extravagant chivalry and romantic imagination.
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impulsive, overeager, or capricious.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) resembling or befitting Don Quixote.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- half-quixotic adjective
- half-quixotically adverb
- quixotically adverb
- quixotism noun
- unquixotic adjective
- unquixotical adjective
- unquixotically adverb
Etymology
Origin of quixotic
First recorded in 1805–15; (Don) Quixote + -ic
Explanation
Use quixotic for someone or something that is romantic and unrealistic, or possessed by almost impossible hopes. Your quixotic task is easy to understand, if difficult to achieve: establish world peace. What a wonderful word quixotic is! While it is most often used to mean equally impractical and idealistic, it also has the sense of romantic nobility. Its source is from the great Spanish novel "Don Quixote," whose title character is given to unrealistic schemes and great chivalry. In the middle of a recession and high unemployment, it would be quixotic to imagine that you could quit your job and find another easily.
Vocabulary lists containing quixotic
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Scrabble: High Scoring Words
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40 SAT words Beginning with "Q"
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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.
Some longevity influencers attract rubbernecking for their quixotic quests to live forever, epitomized by venture capitalist Bryan Johnson’s vampiric infusions of his teenage son’s blood plasma.
From Slate • Feb. 26, 2026
“This isn’t some sort of quixotic top-line grab,” Jassy said of the company’s AI investments.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 13, 2026
He ran “a quixotic, if not entirely prankish” campaign for mayor in 1933; per A.J.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025
Chenoweth, who is as gleaming as a holiday ornament on Liberace’s Christmas tree, arrives at a canny balance of quixotic generosity and parvenu carelessness in her portrayal of a woman she refuses to lampoon.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 9, 2025
He describes Kelling, in fact, as his intellectual mentor, and so his first step as police chief was as seemingly quixotic as Gunn’s.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
