Quixotically

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a way that embodies impractical idealism and romantic notions
2. Acting with an imaginative spirit that often defies practicality and realism
3. Done in a fashion marked by unrealistic and overly noble goals detached from practical reality

Etymology: Quixotically takes its meaning from Don Quixote, the deluded knight of Miguel de Cervantes's Spanish novel, whose name became a byword for idealism that ignores practical limits. The adjective "quixotic" was formed from his name, and the adverb is simply that adjective with the suffix "-ally" attached, so a person acting quixotically does so in the manner of the knight, charging at windmills in the belief that they are giants. The suffix carries its own long journey. It descends from the Proto-Indo-European root ""leyg-", meaning "to leave" or "to shape," and through Proto-Germanic ""līkaz" it became Old English "-līċe," which was the common way of turning an adjective into an adverb. Middle English wore that down to "-ly," and "-ally" is the form that appears when the adjective ends in "-ic," as "quixotic" does.

Synonyms: idealistically, romantically, impractically

Antonyms: pragmatically, realistically