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View synonyms for

idealism

[ahy-dee-uh-liz-uhm]

noun

  1. the cherishing or pursuit of high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc.

  2. the practice of idealizing.

  3. something idealized; an ideal representation.

  4. Fine Arts.treatment of subject matter in a work of art in which a mental conception of beauty or form is stressed, characterized usually by the selection of particular features of various models and their combination into a whole according to a standard of perfection.

  5. Philosophy.

    1. any system or theory that maintains that the real is of the nature of thought or that the object of external perception consists of ideas.

    2. the tendency to represent things in an ideal form, or as they might or should be rather than as they are, with emphasis on values.



idealism

/ ɪˈɪəˌɪə /

noun

  1. belief in or pursuance of ideals

  2. the tendency to represent things in their ideal forms, rather than as they are

  3. any of a group of philosophical doctrines that share the monistic view that material objects and the external world do not exist in reality independently of the human mind but are variously creations of the mind or constructs of ideas Compare materialism dualism

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

idealism

  1. An approach to philosophy that regards mind, spirit, or ideas as the most fundamental kinds of reality, or at least as governing our experience of the ordinary objects in the world. Idealism is opposed to materialism, naturalism, and realism. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was an idealist; so was Immanuel Kant.

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Other Word Forms

  • anti-idealism noun
  • overidealism noun
  • ˌ𲹱ˈپ adverb
  • ˈ𲹱 noun
  • ˌ𲹱ˈپ adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of idealism1

First recorded in 1790–1800; ideal + -ism, probably modeled on German Idealismus
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Years later, “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” was recognized as a prophetic record, one of only a few that described the end of the 1960s’ idealism.

From

But Jackman sold its corny idealism with a huckster’s sincerity you couldn’t help but buy.

From

I’m interested in the tension between the idealism of America and the reality of it.

From

Their decisions to stay on a war train clashed with youthful idealism.

From

Moseby doesn’t enter the story with any sort of idealism and yet he is still unmoored by just how cynical, sordid and despicable the world he is drawn into turns out to be.

From

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ideal gas lawidealist