Pipe Dream - Wiktionary

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• 1 English Toggle English subsection
  • 1.1 Etymology
  • 1.2 Pronunciation
  • 1.3 Noun
    • 1.3.1 Alternative forms
    • 1.3.2 Derived terms
    • 1.3.3 Translations
  • 1.4 References
  • 1.5 Further reading

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• Discussion

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In other projects Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wiktionary, the free dictionary See also: pipedream and pipe-dream

English

[edit] WOTD – 21 January 2025

Etymology

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From pipe +‎ dream, referring to the fantasies experienced when smoking an opium pipe.[1] Compare Old English pīpdrēam (“the sound or music of a pipe”), which is formed identically but has a different meaning.

Pronunciation

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpaɪp driːm/
• (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpaɪp ˌdrim/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

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pipe dream (plural pipe dreams)

1. (idiomatic, originally US) A desire or idea which is unlikely to materialize, or a plan which is unlikely to work; a near impossibility. [from late 19th c.] Synonyms: castle in the air, pie in the sky Coordinate term: figment of one's imagination I think that his plan to become a professional athlete is a pipe dream and that he should stay in school.
   • 1962 December, “Dr. Beeching Previews the Plan for British Railways”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 376:Only a year ago it would have needed a "super-Micawber" to be optimistic that the railways would once again pay their way. But it was no longer a pipe dream that B.R. could make a profit, the way to do it was now clear.

Alternative forms

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• pipedream

Derived terms

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• pipe-dream (verb)
• pipedreamed (adjective)
• pipe-dreamer (modelled after pipe dream)
• pipe dreaming (noun)

Translations

[edit] desire or idea which is unlikely to materialize, or a plan which is unlikely to work

Afrikaans: lugkasteel (literally “castle in the air”), wensdroom (literally “wishful dream”) Armenian: անիրականալի երազանք (anirakanali erazankʻ), ցնորք (hy) (cʻnorkʻ) Bashkir: буш (buş) хыял (xıyal) Bulgarian: празна надежда f (prazna nadežda), въздушна мечта (vǎzdušna mečta) Catalan: entelèquia (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 妄想 (zh) (wàngxiǎng), 春秋大夢 / 春秋大梦 (zh) (chūnqiūdàmèng) Czech: vzdušné zámky m pl (literally “castles in the air”) Danish: luftkastel n (literally “castle in the air”), ønskedrøm c Dutch: luchtkasteel (nl) n (literally “castle in the air”), wensdroom (nl) m Esperanto: aerkastelo, ĥimero Finnish: pilvilinna (fi) French: chimère (fr) f, rêve chimérique m German: Luftschloss (de) n (literally “castle in the air”), Schnapsidee (de) n (literally “booze idea”), Wunschtraum (de) m Greek: ονειροφαντασία (el) f (oneirofantasía), ὀνειροπόληση f (oneiropólisi) Hebrew: חלומות באספמיה (he) m pl (ḥalomót be aspámya, literally “dreaming of Spain”) (formal), מִגְדָּל פּוֹרֵחַ בָּאֲוִיר (he) m (migdál poréaḥ baavír, literally “tower flying in the air”) (formal) Hungarian: ábránd (hu), légvár (hu), vágyálom (hu) Japanese: 夢物語 (ja) (ゆめものがたり, yumemonogatari), 絵空事 (えそらごと, esoragoto) Macedonian: please add this translation if you can Maori: waitara Norwegian: luftslott (no) n (literally “castle in the air”), ønskedrøm m Polish: marzenie ściętej głowy (pl) n, miraż (pl) m, mrzonka (pl) f Portuguese: quimera (pt) f Russian: несбы́точная мечта́ f (nesbýtočnaja mečtá, literally “unrealizable dream”), возду́шные за́мки m pl (vozdúšnyje zámki, literally “castles in the air”) Spanish: castillo en el aire m, entelequia (es) f, quimera (es) f, sueño guajiro (es), ensueño imposible m Swedish: luftslott (sv) n (literally “castle in the air”), önskedröm (sv) Turkish: boş hayal (tr), hülya (tr) Welsh: breuddwyd gwrach (cy) m

References

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1. ^ “pipe dream, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “pipe dream, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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• pipe dream (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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