quixotic
adjective
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Quixotic Has Roots in Literature
If you guessed that quixotic has something to do with Don Quixote, you're absolutely right. The hero of Miguel de Cervantes' 17th-century Spanish novel El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha (in English "The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha") didn't change the world by tilting at windmills, but he did leave a linguistic legacy in English. The adjective quixotic is based on his name and has been used to describe unrealistic idealists since at least the early 18th century. The novel has given English other words as well. Dulcinea, the name of Quixote's beloved, has come to mean "mistress" or "sweetheart," and rosinante, which is sometimes used to refer to an old horse, comes from the name of the hero's less-than-gallant steed, Rocinante.
Synonyms
Examples of quixotic in a Sentence
Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review, 22 Feb. 2009
The history of biblical oil prospecting is filled with quixotic quests and colorful characters, starting with Welsie Hancock, a wealthy California man who in the 1960s dreamed that Jesus told him he would find black gold in the Holy Land. He sunk his entire fortune into two dry holes.
—Mariah Blake, Mother Jones, January and February 2008
Mumey had announced his candidacy as an independent in the partisan election, which meant that he needed 2,300 signatures of registered voters in order to get on the ballot in the fall. It seemed a quixotic adventure, given the small size of Celebration and Mumey's lack of name recognition outside the town.
—Douglas Frantz et al., Celebration, USA, 1999
They had quixotic dreams about the future.
in this age of giant chain stores, any attempt at operating an independent bookstore must be regarded as quixotic
Roger Valdez, Forbes, 6 Nov. 2024
In June 2020, the Small Arms Survey made a quixotic attempt to map the main alliances and rivalries among South Sudanese elites.
—Jason K. Stearns, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022
Aromas of climbing in a sappy tree as a kid, of grassy hedgerows in France in spring, of maple syrup, molasses, malt balls, lapsang souchong tea and orange juice—a sort of quixotic brew of rounded but novel aromas characteristic of coloroful Cadillac wines.
—Tom Mullen, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2024
Warren is a fixture of the left in Washington and an outspoken critic of many business interests — and she's attracted Republican candidates vying to make names for themselves with quixotic campaigns.
—Mike Deehan, Axios, 8 Aug. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Quixotic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quixotic. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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quixotic
adjective
from Don Quixote, hero of the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Cervantes
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