Don Quixote
Windmill-battling idealist
Don Quixote is the protagonist of Cervantes's 1605 Spanish novel, a deluded knight who mistakes windmills for giants and peasant girls for princesses.
The name has become shorthand for impractical idealism—someone who pursues noble but unrealistic goals, tilting at windmills.
A quixotic person channels Don Quixote's romantic delusions: He's a Don Quixote, fighting battles no one else sees.
Rotating structure harnessing air
- tiltingInclined from vertical
- giantBeing of huge size
- imaginationFaculty for forming ideas
- realityWhat actually exists
appearance · perception · metaphor · satire · parody · irony · mock-heroic · absurdity
- masterpieceSupreme artistic achievement
- picaresqueRascally adventure narrative style
- satireMockery exposing vice
- SpanishLanguage of Iberia
literature · classic · prose · fiction · narrative · episodic · allegory · parody
Imagined perfect society
- romanticismEmotional, imaginative worldview
- dreamerOne given to fantasies
- nobilityTitled ruling class
- aspirationStrong desire for achievement
visionary · optimism · impractical · naivete · conviction · zeal · impossible dream · perseverance
Honored mounted soldier
- armorProtective combat covering
- lanceLong thrusting weapon
- questSeeking journey for something
- valorCourage in danger
honor · gallantry · jousting · steed · squire · lady · heraldry · tourney
Seeking journey for something
- odysseyExtended adventurous journey
- escapadeReckless, exciting adventure
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
- journeyTravel from place to place
exploit · misadventure · encounter · episode · roaming · wandering · pilgrimage · inn
Rotating vaned power structures
- giantsBeings of immense stature
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- madnessMental derangement or folly
- hallucinationPerception without external cause
fantasy · misperception · obsession · self-deception · enchantment · enchanter · imagination · distortion
windmill
Rotating structure harnessing air
- tiltingInclined from vertical
- giantBeing of huge size
- imaginationFaculty for forming ideas
reality · appearance · perception · metaphor · satire · parody · irony · mock-heroic · absurdity · futility
Cervantes
- masterpieceSupreme artistic achievement
- picaresqueRascally adventure narrative style
- satireMockery exposing vice
Spanish · literature · classic · prose · fiction · narrative · episodic · allegory · parody · translation
utopia
Imagined perfect society
- romanticismEmotional, imaginative worldview
- dreamerOne given to fantasies
- nobilityTitled ruling class
aspiration · visionary · optimism · impractical · naivete · conviction · zeal · impossible dream · perseverance · unwavering
knight
Honored mounted soldier
valor · honor · gallantry · jousting · steed · squire · lady · heraldry · tourney · paladin
quest
Seeking journey for something
- odysseyExtended adventurous journey
- escapadeReckless, exciting adventure
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
journey · exploit · misadventure · encounter · episode · roaming · wandering · pilgrimage · inn · roadside
windmills
Rotating vaned power structures
- giantsBeings of immense stature
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- madnessMental derangement or folly
hallucination · fantasy · misperception · obsession · self-deception · enchantment · enchanter · imagination · distortion · folly
Sancho Panza
Squire to a knight-errant
- RocinanteKnight's bony mount
- hidalgoLower Spanish nobility member
- protagonistStory's central figure
madman · gentleman · dreamer · nobleman · squire · eccentric · romantic · fool · aging · delusional
- Hispanic StudiesSpanish literature, Spanish language, Cervantes, Spanish drama, Spanish art
- Spanish LiteratureDon Quijote, Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes, El Cid, Calderon
- 1600s WorksParadise Lost, Leviathan, King James Bible, Hamlet, Macbeth
- CervantesMiguel de Cervantes, Sancho Panza, Cervantes, Rocinante, La Mancha
- Don QuixoteSancho Panza, Rocinante, La Mancha, tilting at windmills, windmills
- Don Quixote CharactersSancho Panza, Rocinante
Don QuixoteSancho Panza
Squire to a knight-errant
realist · pragmatist · cynic · Machiavelli · materialist
Don QuixoteSancho Panza
Squire to a knight-errant
Sherlock Holmes · rationalist · empiricist · realist · scientist
Don QuixoteFalstaff
Comic knight, corpulent braggart
anti-hero · coward · mercenary · Sancho Panza · opportunist
quixotic, quixotically, Quixote, quixotism, knight-errant, knight-errantry