Utopian

[yoo-toh-pee-uhn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR Utopian ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of, relating to, or resembling Utopia, an idealized imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516).

(usually lowercase) founded upon or involving idealized perfection.

(usually lowercase) given to impractical or unrealistic schemes of such perfection.

noun

an inhabitant of Utopia.

(usually lowercase) an ardent but impractical political or social reformer; visionary; idealist.

Origin of Utopian

From the New Latin word Utopiānus, dating back to 1545–55. See Utopia, -an

Synonyms for Utopian

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR Utopian ON THESAURUS.COM

3. visionary, idealistic; impracticable.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for utopian

grandiose, romantic, idealistic, abstract, illusory, fanciful, quixotic, lofty, perfect, arcadian, visionary, hopeful, fantasy, impossible, idealist, dream, airy, ambitious, chimerical, impractical

Examples from the Web for utopian

Contemporary Examples of utopian

Petro Poroshenko proposes a utopian solution to the problem.
Putin's 'Peace' In Ukraine
Anna Nemtsova
September 5, 2014
“Only in retrospect did we appreciate our good fortune in being part of a utopian experiment in American journalism,” she writes.
Gail Sheehy Books Passage to the Past
Lizzie Crocker
September 3, 2014
When you were setting out to work on The Giver, what planted the seed for this dark, utopian society?
A Trailblazer in YA Dystopian Fiction: An Interview With 'The Giver' Author Lois Lowry
Marianne Hayes
August 12, 2014
He calls the proposal “utopian,” and that is probably generous.
How to Think About Economic Inequality After Thomas Piketty
Jedediah Purdy
June 8, 2014
An economy that could help us be better than that is possible, not utopian.
We Need More Class Traitors: Solving America’s Meritocracy Problem
Jedediah Purdy
April 20, 2014

Historical Examples of utopian

And the gentle Utopian Emperor had tried in vain to be killed on the battle-field.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
The Utopian ideas which I have expressed have in no way the pretension to be new.
The Sexual Question
August Forel
The prudence which teaches one man to be a Whig, will make of another a Utopian.
Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle
H. N. Brailsford
But the recital of this Utopian dream was rudely interrupted.
Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer
Cyrus Townsend Brady
Bob, thus forming his Utopian plans, forgot the tedium of the trail.
The Gaunt Gray Wolf
Dillon Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for utopian

Utopian

adjective

of or relating to a perfect or ideal existence

noun

an idealistic social reformer

Derived FormsUtopianism, noun

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 utopian

adj.

1550s, with reference to More's fictional country; 1610s as "extravagantly ideal, impossibly visionary," from utopia + -ian. As a noun meaning "visionary idealist" it is first recorded c.1873 (earlier in this sense was utopiast, 1854).