pipe dreams
Castles in air
Pipe dreams are fantasies or hopes that are pleasant to imagine but unlikely to be realized.
The term comes from the hallucinatory visions induced by smoking opium.
Now it describes any unrealistic plan or ambition: His scheme to get rich quick was just a pipe dream.
The singular form works the same way: Retiring at forty is a pipe dream for most people.
Imaginative mental wandering
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- delusionStubbornly held false belief
- chimeraUnrealistic fantasy or hybrid
- mirageAtmospheric optical deception
impossibility · unrealistic · fanciful · utopian · quixotic · impractical · far-fetched · unattainable
Bitter loss of faith
- letdownFailure to satisfy expectations
- unfulfilledNot brought to completion
- heartbreakCrushing emotional pain
- setbackReverse in progress
defeat · failure · regret · bitterness · despondency · resignation · deflation · crushed
fantasy
Imaginative mental wandering
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- delusionStubbornly held false belief
- chimeraUnrealistic fantasy or hybrid
mirage · impossibility · unrealistic · fanciful · utopian · quixotic · impractical · far-fetched · unattainable · unachievable
disillusionment
Bitter loss of faith
- letdownFailure to satisfy expectations
- unfulfilledNot brought to completion
- heartbreakCrushing emotional pain
setback · defeat · failure · regret · bitterness · despondency · resignation · deflation · crushed · shattered
yearning
Intense prolonged craving
- aspirationStrong desire for achievement
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
- desireIntense wanting
hoping · pining · craving · ache · wanting · wishing · coveting · hankering · hunger · thirst
idealist
Pursuer of noble principles
fantasist · utopian · stargazer · head-in-clouds · escapist · naïve · impractical · hopeful · believer · schemer
- daydreamingfantasies, deep in thought, musings, reverie, fancies
- failuresfailure, failures, flop, flops, bust
- idealsideal, utopia, archetypes, models, paradise
- unpredictablessurprises, chance, randomness, uncertainty, unpredictables
pipe dreamsreality
What actually exists
hard facts · actualities · certainties · givens · known quantities
pipe dreamsblueprints
Technical construction drawings
roadmaps · game plans · realpolitik · nuts and bolts · five-year plans
dream, pipe, dreamy, nightmare, dreaming, pipes, dreamer, daydream, piping