as in romantic
having or marked by a tendency to be guided more by ideals than by reality
an idealist attempt to make a go of a mom-and-pop hardware store on Main Street
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in dreamer
one whose conduct is guided more by the image of perfection than by the real world
an idealist sees the best in everyone, regardless of how they behave
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of idealist
Zoe G Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2024
In each episode, Kaplan argues that although hubris, ambition, and hatred always lurk in the background, the knowledge of human imperfection and the limits of progress can liberate people to seek greater self-awareness and avoid idealist misadventures.
—Robert D. Kaplan, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2023
Bob Mondello, NPR, 2 Apr. 2025
The demographics have shifted from young idealists to seasoned veterans grappling with institutional weight and responsibility.
—Boaz Sobrado, Forbes.com, 27 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for idealist
Adjective
The film’s first trailer released on Monday, featuring Adam Driver as an idealist architect up against Giancarlo Esposito as a pragmatist mayor.
—Zoe G Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2024
In each episode, Kaplan argues that although hubris, ambition, and hatred always lurk in the background, the knowledge of human imperfection and the limits of progress can liberate people to seek greater self-awareness and avoid idealist misadventures.
—Robert D. Kaplan, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2023
Noun
And the film ends, not with glory for its title idealist, but with chaos, and the president of the Senate smiling smugly to himself.
—Bob Mondello, NPR, 2 Apr. 2025
The demographics have shifted from young idealists to seasoned veterans grappling with institutional weight and responsibility.
—Boaz Sobrado, Forbes.com, 27 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for idealist
Recent Examples of Synonyms for idealist
Adjective
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The coming-of-age romantic television series based on the popular book trilogy of the same name by Jenny Han will premiere on Amazon Prime Video next week.—
Kaycee Sloan,
The Enquirer,
9 July 2025
-
Greta Lee, who broke out with her performance in the acclaimed romantic drama Past Lives, is stepping behind the camera.—
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
9 July 2025
Noun
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The American project is a patchwork of dreamers and doers, saints and sinners, stitched together by the thread of promise that stretches across generations.—
F. Willis Johnson,
Twin Cities,
10 July 2025
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Every wreck, every ruin is the relic of a shriveled dream, lasting long after the body of its dreamer has been received back into the earth with love or remorse or indifference.—
Kimberlee Speakman,
People.com,
10 July 2025
Adjective
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This is not an idealistic concept; there are programs in the U.S. that link food systems to human health.—
Alana Sandel,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
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Mark your calendars because this summer is about to get lit — especially as responsible Saturn, idealistic Neptune, and transformational Pluto alchemize with Uranus, bringing extreme makeovers to many aspects of our lives and to the world at large.—
Lisa Stardust,
refinery29.com,
4 July 2025
Adjective
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However, for many travelers who take only one or two flights a year, that's impractical advice.—
Christopher Elliott,
USA Today,
11 July 2025
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Aside from being impractical, the new importation strategy would leave America’s drug supply vulnerable to dangerous counterfeit medicines from abroad.—
Sally C. Pipes,
The Orlando Sentinel,
11 July 2025
Adjective
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People always wanted more-more-more from Sly, based on the utopian promises of his songs.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
10 June 2025
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That all sounds very woolly and, in a way, utopian.—
Kevin Giraud,
Variety,
10 June 2025
Adjective
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Here, businesses can grow without the weight of government regulation or woke ideological agendas.—
Mike Dunleavy,
New York Daily News,
14 July 2025
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Advertisement Beyond religious and ideological attacks, 14.3% of posts contained nativist language calling for Mamdani's deportation or citizenship revocation.—
Juwayriah Wright,
Time,
9 July 2025
Adjective
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František, the more optimistic and quixotic of the two, has spent the last 20 years attempting to build a flying perpetuum machine — daydreamy compensation, perhaps, for having lost an arm in a sawmill accident decades before.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
11 July 2025
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Trump also hinted that a deal with Harvard was imminent, but some Harvard faculty worried about the terms of a prospective deal appearing to look like capitulation, while others worried that the university’s battle over purist principles of academic freedom was quixotic and too costly.—
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,
Time,
7 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Idealist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idealist. Accessed 20 Jul. 2025.
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