visionary
Americanadjective
-
given to or characterized by fanciful, not presently workable, or unpractical ideas, views, or schemes.
a visionary enthusiast.
- Synonyms:
- impracticable, impractical
- Antonyms:
- practical
-
given to or concerned with seeing visions.
-
belonging to or seen in a vision.
-
unreal; imaginary.
visionary evils.
- Synonyms:
- chimerical, illusory, fancied
-
purely idealistic or speculative; impractical; unrealizable.
a visionary scheme.
- Synonyms:
- unrealistic
-
of, relating to, or proper to a vision.
noun
-
visionaries
plural
-
a person of unusually keen foresight.
-
a person who sees visions.
-
a person who is given to audacious, highly speculative, or impractical ideas or schemes; dreamer.
adjective
-
marked by vision or foresight
a visionary leader
-
incapable of being realized or effected; unrealistic
-
(of people) characterized by idealistic or radical ideas, esp impractical ones
-
given to having visions
-
of, of the nature of, or seen in visions
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of visionary
Explanation
You've got big ideas. Crazy ideas. But forward-thinking ideas — ideas that just might change the way the world works. You're considered a visionary. Visionaries are ahead of their time, always thinking creatively. You could say that a visionary can envision what the future holds and come up with solutions that fit that picture. Those wild ideas aren't always met with appreciation though. Skeptics think that visionaries aren't grounded in reality. And usually the visionaries tell them to stop being so shortsighted!
Vocabulary lists containing visionary
Common Senses: Vid, Vis ("See")
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"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "T" "U" "V" and "W"
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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.
See Examples For:
But in Aschenbrenner’s world, that sort of fervent belief was among the reasons the 24-year-old investor was hailed as a visionary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
To the world, Hussle was known as a Grammy-nominated artist, visionary entrepreneur, and South L.A. community leader.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
“This visionary project reflects Tyson’s commitment to providing quality education and opportunities,” a 2024 news release for the school stated.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
She said the school would now look for "visionary individuals" who could bring "serious investment" to the project, as well as governments and local authorities.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
A former teacher, journalist, and dean of women at Northwestern University, Willard was both a visionary and a powerful reformer.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
The showdown between the first family of the Lakers comes at a time when family ownership is increasingly rare in high-level professional sports, as franchises become astronomically valuable—thanks in part to visionaries like Jerry Buss.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
L.A. has reciprocated by sending our visionaries to Salzburg, where director Peter Sellars and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, for instance, have been given the license and means to inspire a reinvention of musical and theatrical thinking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
“We have the benefit of being founded and led by Elon Musk, one of the great visionaries of our generation,” SpaceX touted in its IPO paperwork.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
What creative visionaries achieve with Legos is very different from Explosive Media’s slopaganda cartoons, to be clear.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
Nobody was admired more than so- called free soloists: visionaries who ascended alone, without rope or hardware.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
