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| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | imaginary |
| Synonyms: | abstract, apocryphal, apparitional, assumed, chimeric, chimerical, conceptual, deceptive, delusive, dreamed-up, dreamlike, dreamy, fabulous, fancied, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, fictional, figmental, fool's paradise, hallucinatory, hypothetical, ideal, illusive, illusory, imaginative, imagined, legendary, made-up, mythological, nonexistent, phantasmal, phantasmic, quixotic, shadowy, spectral, supposed, supposititious, theoretical, trumped up, unreal, unsubstantial, visionary, whimsical |
| Main Entry: | capricious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | given to sudden behavior change |
| Synonyms: | any way the wind blows, arbitrary, blowing hot and cold, careless, changeful, contrary, crotchety, effervescent, erratic, every which way, fanciful, fickle, fitful, flaky*, flighty, freakish, gaga, helter-skelter, humorsome, impulsive, inconstant, kinky*, lubricious, mercurial, moody, mutable, notional, odd, picky*, punchy, queer, quirky, temperamental, ticklish, unpredictable, unreasonable, unstable, up and down, vagarious, variable, volatile, wayward, whimsical, yo-yo |
| Antonyms: | constant, dependable, sensible, staid, steadfast, steady |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | fanciful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | imaginary, romantic |
| Synonyms: | absurd, aerial, bizarre, blue sky, capricious, castles in the air, chimerical, curious, dreamlike, extravagant, fabulous, fairy-tale, fancied, fantastic, fantastical, fictional, fictitious, fictive, flaky*, floating, ideal, illusory, imaginative, imagined, incredible, kinky*, legendary, mythical, notional, offbeat, on cloud nine, pie in the sky, pipe dream, poetic, preposterous, shadowy, suppositious, unreal, visionary, whimsical, wild |
| Antonyms: | grave, ordinary, real, serious, sincere, unfanciful, unimaginative, unromantic |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | ideal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | conceptual; impractical |
| Synonyms: | Utopian, abstract, chimerical, dreamlike, extravagant, fanciful, fictitious, high-flown, hypothetical, imaginary, in the clouds, intellectual, ivory-tower, mental, mercurial, notional, out-of-reach, quixotic, theoretical, transcendent, transcendental, unattainable, unearthly, unreal, visionary |
| Notes: | ideal means conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence; idealistic means of or pertaining to idealists or their theories, pursuing perfection |
| Antonyms: | actual, common, material, practical, pragmatic |
| Main Entry: | imaginary |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fictitious, invented |
| Synonyms: | abstract, apocryphal, apparitional, assumed, chimerical, deceptive, delusive, dreamed-up, dreamlike, dreamy, fabulous, fancied, fanciful, fantastic, fictional, figmental, fool's paradise, hallucinatory, hypothetical, ideal, illusive, illusory, imaginative, imagined, legendary, made-up, mythological, nonexistent, notional, phantasmal, phantasmic, quixotic, shadowy, spectral, supposed, supposititious, theoretical, trumped up, unreal, unsubstantial, visionary, whimsical |
| Notes: | imaginary means not based on fact while imaginative means marked by independence and creativity in thought or action |
| Antonyms: | existing, factual, genuine, physical, real, substantial, true |
| Main Entry: | speculative |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | theoretical |
| Synonyms: | abstract, analytical, assumed, conceptive, dangerous, dicey, experimental, formularized, hairy, hazardous, hypothetical, ideal, idealized, ideological, iffy, in theory, intellectual, logical, notional, philosophical, presumed, risky, uncertain, unproved, unproven, unsubstantiated |
| Main Entry: | theoretical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hypothetical |
| Synonyms: | abstract, academic, analytical, as a premise, assumed, codified, conjectural, contingent, formalistic, formularized, general, ideal, idealized, ideational, ideological, imaginative, impractical, in the abstract, in theory, instanced, intellectual, logical, metaphysical, notional, on paper, pedantic, philosophical, postulated, presumed, problematical, pure, quixotic, speculative, suppositional, tentative, transcendent, transcendental, unearthly, unproved, unsubstantiated, vague |
| Notes: | empirical describes results determined by experiment and observed behavior or facts; theoretical describes results that are based on guesswork or hypothesis - and pragmatic is contrasted with theoretical on the grounds that the former proceeds from what is demonstrably practical, the latter from conjecture |
| Antonyms: | certain, definite, factual, proven, real |
| Main Entry: | unreal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fake, make-believe; hypothetical |
| Synonyms: | aerial, artificial, chimerical, delusive, dreamlike, fabled, fabulous, false, fanciful, fictitious, fictive, figmental, hallucinatory, ideal, illusory, imaginary, imagined, immaterial, impalpable, insincere, insubstantial, intangible, invented, legendary, misleading, mock, mythical, nebulous, nonexistent, notional, ostensible, phantasmagoric, pretended, reachy, romantic, seeming, sham*, storybook, suppositious, supposititious, theoretical, unbelievable, unsubstantial, visionary |
| Antonyms: | authentic, genuine, real |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | chimeric |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | imaginary |
| Synonyms: | chimeral, chimerical, delusive, delusory, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, hallucinatory, illusive, illusory, imagined, made-up, notional, phantasmagoric, phantasmal, phantasmic, unreal, unrealistic, visionary |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
