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Utopian

[yoo-toh-pee-uhn]
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adjective
  1. of, relating to, or resembling Utopia, an idealized imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516).
  2. (usually lowercase) founded upon or involving idealized perfection.
  3. (usually lowercase) given to impractical or unrealistic schemes of such perfection.
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noun
  1. an inhabitant of Utopia.
  2. (usually lowercase) an ardent but impractical political or social reformer; visionary; idealist.
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Origin of Utopian

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

Synonyms

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3. visionary, idealistic; impracticable.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

grandioseromanticidealisticabstractillusoryfancifulquixoticloftyperfectarcadianvisionaryhopefulfantasyimpossibleidealistdreamairyambitiouschimericalimpractical

Examples from the Web for utopian

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • 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 prudence which teaches one man to be a Whig, will make of another a Utopian.

  • 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
  1. of or relating to a perfect or ideal existence
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noun
  1. an idealistic social reformer
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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).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper