chimera
5
9.3
- noun
- /kaɪˈmɪrə/
- Literature
:
quimera
- Hence, the notion of "self-reliance" is a chimera that cannot stand as the touchstone for public policy in this area or any other.
Man pursues that chimera, a companion half slave, half free.
- Man pursues that chimera, a companion half slave, half free.
Examples
-
But we cannot forget gravity, a chimera just beyond our reach.
Academic text (2004) -
As I was saying, Max, it's a bubble, a chimera.
-
Freedom for them is a chimera.
Academic text (2010) -
Sometimes she jokes that she is no more human than I am, that she is a chimera, too.
Fiction book (2001) -
The magical solution, it turns out, is a chimera.
Academic text (1997) -
Is God simply a chimera of our making to explain the vast and complex corporeality of everything?
Blog text (28) -
Yet the end of superpower rivalry continues to entrance America with the chimera of a new world order.
Academic text (1993) -
The just, egalitarian, and corruption-free society that he pledged is still a distant chimera.
Academic text (2007) -
The doctrine of essentialism is seen as a chimera, an outdated epistemology that has been replaced by one emphasizing particularity and plurality.
Academic text (1991) -
She realized that her dream of becoming a famous singer was merely a chimera, one that was unlikely to come true.
Synonyms
112
3.8
An imagined world or story someone creates in their mind
33
6.4
Something made up in your mind that is not real
22
7.7
An idea or hope that seems real but is not possible
7
7.4
An imaginative idea that is unlikely to be true or useful
4
9.9
A thing that seems real but is only in the mind, like a ghost
Antonyms
How Realistic
473
3.6
∞
2.0
- Literature
5
9.3
- Informal
23
6.8
112
3.8
Surface Forms
Etymology
A helpful way to remember chimera is to think of the mythic monster made of mixed parts. So calling an idea a chimera means it is a fanciful or impossible hope that is not real.