From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Quixotic \Quix*ot"ic\ (kw[i^]ks*[o^]t"[i^]k), adjective
1. Like Don Quixote; romantic to extravagance; prone to pursue unrealizable goals; absurdly chivalric; apt to be deluded. See also {quixotism}. ''Feats of quixotic gallantry.'' --Prescott.
2. Like the deeds of Don Quixote; ridiculously impractical; unachievable; extravagantly romantic; doomed to failure; as, a quixotic quest. [PJC]
The word ''quixotic'' . . . has entered the common language, with the meaning ''hopelessly naive and idealistic,'' ''ridiculously impractical,'' ''doomed to fail.'' That this epithet can be used now in an exclusively pejorative sense not only shows that we have ceased to read Cervantes and to understand his character, but more fundamentally it reveals that our culture has drifted away from its spiritual roots. --Simon Leys (N. Y. Review of Books, June 11, 1998, p. 35) [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: not sensible about practical matters; unrealistic; "as quixotic as a restoration of medieval knighthood"; "a romantic disregard for money"; "a wild-eyed dream of a world state" [syn: {romantic}, {wild-eyed}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
35 Moby Thesaurus words for "quixotic": absurd, airy, autistic, chimerical, dereistic, dreamlike, dreamy, fanciful, fantastic, foolhardy, idealistic, impracticable, impractical, in the clouds, mad, optimistic, otherworldly, poetic, preposterous, rash, reckless, ridiculous, romancing, romantic, romanticized, starry-eyed, storybook, transcendental, transmundane, unpractical, unrealistic, unrealizable, visionary, wild, wish-fulfilling
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
QUIXOTIC, adjective Absurdly chivalric, like Don Quixote. An insight into the beauty and excellence of this incomparable adjective is unhappily denied to him who has the misfortune to know that the gentleman's name is pronounced Ke-ho-tay.
When ignorance from out of our lives can banish Philology, 'tis folly to know Spanish. Juan Smith
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