🔊 Listen to the word Chimerical

ky-MAIR-ih-kul

Definition

(adjective) Wildly unrealistic or fanciful; existing only in the imagination and having no basis in reality.

Example

Critics called the startup’s plan to colonize Mars within five years chimerical — bold in vision, impossible in practice.

Word Origin

From the Chimera — a fire-breathing monster of Greek mythology with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a serpent. From Greek chimaira (“she-goat”), related to kheimon (“winter”) — the creature was associated with seasonal storms. The Chimera was slain by Bellerophon riding Pegasus, and its name became a byword for any fantastical, impossible idea. The adjective chimerical entered English in the 17th century.