idealism

First attested 1796, from ideal +‎ -ism.

• IPA^(key): /ʌɪˈdɪəlɪz(ə)m/, /ʌɪˈdiːəlɪz(ə)m/

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idealism (countable and uncountable, plural idealisms)

1. The property of a person of having high ideals that are usually unrealizable or at odds with practical life.
2. The practice or habit of giving or attributing ideal form or character to things; treatment of things in art or literature according to ideal standards or patterns;—opposed to realism.^[1]
3. (philosophy) An approach to philosophical enquiry, which asserts that direct and immediate knowledge can only be had of ideas or mental pictures.

   Synonym: philosophical idealism

   Antonym: materialism

• idealist
• idealistic
• idealistically
• perfectionism

• realism
• pragmatism
• materialism
• physicalism

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “idealism”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “idealism”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• "idealism" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 152.

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Borrowed from French idéalisme. Equivalent to ideal +‎ -ism.

idealism n (uncountable)

1. idealism

• idealist

idealism c

1. idealism (holding or striving towards ideals, sometimes unrealistic)
2. (philosophy) idealism

• idealism in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• idealism in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• idealism in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)