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Glite Dictionary
cloud-cuckoo-land

cloud-cuckoo-land

1 9.9
An imaginary place where people are out of touch with reality because they are too optimistic
  • noun
  • /ˈklaʊdˈkʊkuˌlænd/
  • Informal
translation icon : mundo de fantasía
  • If you believe that money will solve all your problems, you are living in cloud-cuckoo-land.

Examples

  • Thinking we can resolve climate change without any sacrifices is just living in cloud-cuckoo-land.

  • Keep living in Republican cloud-cuckoo land.

    Blog text (3)

  • Sorry, deals, but you are living in academic cloud cuckoo land...

    Blog text (8)

  • If you think simply observing "there is no way for women to know ahead of time which men are rapists and which aren't" is "treating men in monstrous fashion," then you are in cloud cuckoo land.

    Blog text (7)

  • 9/11 was an outrage against humanity, as were the other outrages quoted, and to believe that allowing the erection of an Islamic mosque on Ground Zero would be a successful forgive-and-forget act would be living in cloud cuckoo land.

    Blog text (17)

  • Some politicians are completely out of touch; their ideas belong in cloud-cuckoo-land.

Synonyms

fantasyland
vscloud-cuckoo-land
  • Informal
2 6.3

A way of thinking that ignores real problems and expects impossible results

is about being out of touch from extreme unrealistic optimism rather than general imaginative thinking
never-never land
vscloud-cuckoo-land
  • Literature
2 8.8

A made-up perfect place that exists only in dreams

is about being out of touch from extreme unrealistic optimism rather than mere imagined places
fool's paradise
vscloud-cuckoo-land
  • Informal
1 8.1

A feeling of happiness based on wrong hopes that will not last

is driven by extreme unrealistic optimism rather than temporary false happiness
La-La Land
vscloud-cuckoo-land
  • Informal
8.1

A state of not knowing what is real, often with happy, silly ideas

is out of touch because of extreme unrealistic optimism

Antonyms

reality
∞ 1.4

The way things really are, not how we imagine or wish

pragmatism
14 5.6

A practical way of solving problems that focuses on what works

How Realistic

practicality
26 3.9
wishful thinking
  • Informal
45 4.1
cloud-cuckoo-land
  • Informal
1 9.9
fantasy
112 3.8

Surface Forms

cloud-cuckoo-land singular
cloud-cuckoo-lands plural

Morphology

cloud-cuckoo-land = cloud + cuckoo + land (semi-transparent) = cloud + cuckoo + land

The components are familiar words, but the whole phrase is an idiomatic, metaphorical place name whose specific meaning ('out of touch with reality') is not directly predictable from the parts for many learners.

Etymology

Cloud-cuckoo-land comes from an old Greek play where people build a make-believe city in the clouds. It combines cloud meaning 'sky' and cuckoo meaning 'crazy', so calling an idea 'cloud-cuckoo-land' says it is unreal and that the people who think it are out of touch with reality.