Quixotic
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A quixotic person or sentiment. rare
"The cultural quixotics attribute the change to inscrutable "cultural factors," which is tantamount to abandoning altogether the search for explanation."
- 1 Resembling or characteristic of the Spanish chivalric hero Don Quixote; possessed with or resulting from the desire to do noble and romantic deeds, without thought of realism and practicality.
"Olivier, as you know, was quixotic, and would not permit a secret service and spies."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of quixotic. alt-of
"Don Quixote undertook to redress the bodily wrongs of the world, but the redressment of mental vagaries would be an enterprise more than Quixotic."
- 3 Overly optimistic and moralistic.
- 4 Exceedingly idealistic.
"Call it a brain freeze, another 'Aleppo moment,' or a mere campaign stumble, but Gary Johnson has stumbled again in his quixotic presidential campaign."
- 1 not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic wordnet
Example
More examples"It may have been a quixotic quest, but surprisingly enough, it was successful."
Etymology
Derived from Spanish Quixote, the surname of Don Quixote, the title character in the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, + -ic.
More for "quixotic"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.