Idealistic
adj.hopeful, thoughtfuleveryday
What it means
Shaped by high principles and a strong belief in how much better things could become.
Reach for it when praising an aim that reaches beyond immediate convenience
Their idealistic charter called for every child to have a safe route to school.
Choose between these
6- warm
positive expectation is the central feeling
not when Hopeful says less about the standards guiding the hope.
- professional
aspirational
a goal intentionally sets a high direction for growth
not when Aspirational may be branding language and need not reflect deep conviction.
- professional
consistent values matter more than optimism about results
not when Principled can describe restraint without any future-looking ambition.
- formal
utopian
the proposal imagines a nearly perfect arrangement
not when Utopian can signal impracticality, so it mislabels achievable reform.
- formal
the idea anticipates a bold and original future
not when Visionary overstates originality when the aim is simply morally ambitious.
- literary
beauty or emotion colors the view of what is possible
not when Romantic may imply sentimentality rather than disciplined principle.
Said against
3- cynical
- expedient
- pragmatic
It naturally appears in
3- idealistic vision
The idealistic vision gave volunteers a reason to persist through slow progress.
- idealistic youth
His idealistic youth shaped a lifetime of careful advocacy.
- idealistic proposal
The idealistic proposal became credible once the team added milestones.
Where this comes from
- Merriam-Webster, adjective sense 1: relating to or having the nature of an idealist opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.