Meaning
Foolishly impractical in the pursuit of ideals, especially marked by rash, lofty romantic schemes destined to fail; extravagantly chivalrous or idealistic. Literary in register, it is often tinged with affectionate pity for the dreamer as much as criticism of the scheme. Literary and formal-leaning; conveys doomed idealism, with admiration and pity in the mix, and keeps the spelling pronunciation kwik-SOT-ik. Regional use: General English (from Cervantes' Spanish novel; adjective formed in English).
Origin
The adjective comes from Don Quixote, the deluded knight-errant of Miguel de Cervantes' Spanish novel, whose two parts appeared in 1605 and 1615 and reached English in Thomas Shelton's translation of 1612. The character was used as a byword for visionary impossibility in English from the 1670s. The adjective itself is dated variously: Merriam-Webster gives first known use as 1718, while the Online Etymology Dictionary records 1791, so the exact first attestation is uncertain; by the early nineteenth century it was settled English. The name Quixote is Spanish quijote, the thigh-piece of armor (from Latin coxa, 'hip'), so the knight's name literally evokes his mismatched armor.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- quixotical (archaic)
- quixotically
- quixotism
- quixotry
Usage Examples
- Reviving the town's tram network struck the council as quixotic until the ridership numbers arrived.
- His quixotic campaign to letterbox every household by hand charmed the volunteers and exhausted the budget.
- She was too practical to be quixotic about the fixer-upper, but she loved it anyway.