castles in air
Impractical grand schemes
Castles in air are fanciful plans or daydreams with no realistic foundation—ambitious visions that exist only in imagination.
The phrase suggests elaborate mental constructions built on nothing solid: She had castles in the air about becoming a famous actress.
Also *castles in the sky* or *castles in Spain*.
To build castles in the air is to indulge in wishful thinking.
- daydreamsIdle waking thoughts
- fantasiesImagined scenarios, often pleasurable
- pipe dreamsFanciful, unattainable notions
- pie in the skyUnrealistic hope or plan
- illusionsDeceptive sensory experiences
wishful thinking · head in clouds · reverie · imagination · flight of fancy · clouds · floating · cloud cuckoo land · unrealistic · schemes · blue sky thinking · hopes · visions · whimsy · escapism · delusions · fanciful · fairy tale ending
- daydreamingdaydreaming, daydreams, fantasies, deep in thought, musings
- idealisticidealist, idealistic, utopian, quixotic, dreamer
- imaginationimagination, daydreaming, daydreams, fantasies, fantasy
- cognitive biasesconfirmation bias, anchoring bias, negativity bias, framing effect, optimism bias
castles in airfeet on the ground
Realistic and practical mindset
hard facts · brass tacks · nuts and bolts · bird in the hand
castles in airsolid ground
Stable surface beneath
terra firma · brick and mortar · hard facts · physical reality · tangible assets