Walter Mitty

American  

noun

• Walter Mittys
  plural

1. an ordinary, timid person who is given to adventurous and self-aggrandizing daydreams or secret plans as a way of glamorizing a humdrum life.

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Walter Mitty Idioms  

1. A person, generally quite ordinary or ineffectual, who indulges in fantastic daydreams of personal triumphs. For example, He's a Walter Mitty about riding in a rodeo but is actually afraid of horses. This term comes from James Thurber's short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1939), describing just such a character.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Walter Mittyish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Walter Mittys
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Walter Mitty

From the title character of James Thurber's short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (1939)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Walter Mitty

Carell: My instinct was to not make Greg a nebbish, because I didn’t want it to be Walter Mitty.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2026

For more than a decade, a group of anonymous veterans known as the Walter Mitty Hunters Club say they have made it their mission to help expose frauds posing as military service men or women.

From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026

“Snoopy, for example, is said to be an ‘extrovert beagle with a Walter Mitty complex.’

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

Commander Murphy likened Khalife to the self-aggrandising fictional character Walter Mitty, who daydreamed about extraordinary personal triumphs.

From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2024

“To aging Walter Mitty types like myself, Dick Bass was an inspiration,” Seaborn Beck Weathers explained in a thick East Texas twang during the trek to Everest Base Camp last April.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• idealist