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quixotism

   Also found in: Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
quix·ot·ic  (kwk-stk) also quix·ot·i·cal (--kl)
adj.
1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.
2. Capricious; impulsive: "At worst his scruples must have been quixotic, not malicious" (Louis Auchincloss).
[From English Quixote, a visionary, after Don Quixote, hero of a romance by Miguel de Cervantes.]
quix·oti·cal·ly adv.
quixo·tism (kwks-tzm) n.
quixotism
a tendency to absurdly chivalric, visionary, or romantically impractical conduct. — quixotic, quixotical, adj.
See also: Behavior
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.quixotism - quixotic (romantic and impractical) behavior
knight errantry
idealism - impracticality by virtue of thinking of things in their ideal form rather than as they really are


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For example, coming by the house of a country gentleman, as Father Simon called him, about ten leagues off the city of Nankin, we had first of all the honour to ride with the master of the house about two miles; the state he rode in was a perfect Don Quixotism, being a mixture of pomp and poverty.
The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Defoe, Daniel View in context
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