Definition

1. Noun:
   • Elevated ideals or conduct; the quality of believing that ideals should be pursued: The practice of forming or pursuing high, often noble, principles and goals, sometimes at the expense of practical considerations.
   • Impracticality by virtue of thinking of things in their ideal form rather than as they really are: A tendency to see or represent things as perfect or as one would wish them to be, rather than dealing with them as they are.
   • (Philosophy) The philosophical theory that ideas are the only reality: A major philosophical doctrine asserting that reality is fundamentally mental, spiritual, or composed of ideas, and that the material world is dependent on or less real than the mind.

Examples of Usage

• Elevated ideals:
  • Her idealism led her to pursue a career in humanitarian aid.
  • The movement was fueled by the idealism of young activists.
• Impracticality:
  • His idealism about politics was shattered after the election.
  • The plan, while beautiful in its idealism, was not feasible.
• Philosophical theory:
  • The philosopher was a proponent of German idealism.
  • Plato's theory of Forms is a classic example of philosophical idealism.

Advanced Usage

• Youthful idealism: The characteristic optimism and high principles often associated with young people.
  • He viewed the world with a sense of youthful idealism.
• Romantic idealism: An attitude that emphasizes emotion, beauty, and idealized perfection.
  • The poet's work is filled with a sense of romantic idealism.
• Transcendental Idealism: A specific philosophical system, notably by Immanuel Kant, which argues that our experience of things is shaped by the mind's structures.
  • Kant's Transcendental Idealism distinguishes between phenomena and noumena.

Variants and Related Words

• Idealist (noun): A person who is guided more by ideals than by practical considerations; an adherent of the philosophy of idealism.
  • She was a dreamer and an idealist.
• Idealistic (adjective): Characterized by idealism; unrealistically aiming for perfection.
  • His idealistic vision for the community inspired many.
• Idealize (verb): To regard or represent as perfect or better than in reality.
  • People often idealize their childhood.

Synonyms

• Utopianism: The belief in or pursuit of a perfect society.
• Perfectionism: The refusal to accept any standard short of perfection.
• (Philosophical) Immaterialism: The doctrine that matter does not exist independently of perception (a form of idealism).

Antonyms

• Realism: The attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and dealing with it accordingly; (in philosophy) the doctrine that universals or abstract concepts have an objective existence.
• Pragmatism: A practical approach to problems and affairs.
• Cynicism: An inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• A clash between idealism and realism: A conflict between high principles and practical constraints.
  • The negotiation highlighted the clash between idealism and realism.
• To temper one's idealism: To make one's high ideals less extreme or more practical.
  • Experience had tempered her idealism without extinguishing it.

Noun

1. elevated ideals or conduct; the quality of believing that ideals should be pursued
2. impracticality by virtue of thinking of things in their ideal form rather than as they really are
3. (philosophy) the philosophical theory that ideas are the only reality