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.

---

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.

---

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

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

He was described as a "Walter Mitty" character who had changed his name several times and had 32 convictions over 15 years in three countries.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2024

In short, “Toes” is a Walter Mitty story — a shaggy-dog tale about a man whose wild daydreams are at once a coping strategy and a revelation of his character.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 4, 2022

“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