- [oftenQ-] of or like Don Quixote
- extravagantly chivalrous or foolishly idealistic; visionary; impractical or impracticablealso quix·ot′i·cal
His quixotic strategy to impress his date by winning the large stuffed animals for her at the carnival seemed to be working.
The definition of quixotic is romantic behavior or following beliefs even though they are foolish or unreachable goals.
An example of quixotic is a young man in love behaving foolishly or wildly.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"quixotic." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Quixotic>.
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quixotic. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Quixotic
quixotic
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"quixotic." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Quixotic>.
APA Style
quixotic. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Quixotic
quixotic
also quix·ot·i·cal
adjective
- Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.
- Capricious; impulsive: “At worst his scruples must have been quixotic, not malicious” ( Louis Auchincloss )
Origin of quixotic
From English Quixote a visionary after Don Quixote , hero of a romance by Miguel de CervantesRelated Forms:
- quix·ot′i·cal·ly
adverb
- quix′o·tism
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"quixotic." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Quixotic>.
APA Style
quixotic. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Quixotic
Adjective
(comparative more quixotic, superlative most quixotic)
- Possessing or acting with the desire to do noble and romantic deeds, without thought of realism and practicality; exceedingly idealistic.
- Impulsive.
- Like Don Quixote; romantic to extravagance; absurdly chivalric; apt to be deluded.
Usage notes
Although the term is derived from the name of the character Don Quixote, the letters qu and x are both read as is usual for English spelling (/kw/ and /ks/). In "Don Quixote", by contrast, the pronunciation more closely resembles the modern Spanish (/k/ and /h~x/).
Origin
The surname of Don Quixote, the titular character in the novel by Miguel Cervantes, + -ic
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"quixotic." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Quixotic>.
APA Style
quixotic. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Quixotic
Sentence Examples
- But in the most Quixotic of his schemes, and the most Laputan of his theories, his pure and chivalrous nature, his marvellous insight into the heart of things and men, and his..
WORDS NEAR quixotic IN THE DICTIONARY
- quixotic
- quivocal
- quivocate
- quivocation