ideal

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Wikipedia

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Related terms 1.3.2 Translations 1.4 Noun 1.4.1 Translations 2 German 2.1 Adjective 3 Spanish 3.1 Etymology 3.2 Adjective 3.3 Noun 4 Swedish 4.1 Pronunciation 4.2 Noun

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

< French idéal < Late Latin ideālis (“‘existing in idea’”) < Latin idea (“‘idea’”); see idea.

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /aɪˈdɪəl/, /aɪˈdi:.əl/, SAMPA: /aI"dI@l/, /aI"di:.@l/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Adjective

ideal (comparative more ideal, superlative most ideal)

1. Optimal; being the best possibility.
2. Perfect, flawless, having no defects.
3. Existing only in the mind; conceptual, imaginary.
   • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society 1985, p. 256:

     The idea of ghosts is ridiculous in the extreme; and if you continue to be swayed by ideal terrors —

   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus,^[1] Chapter 4,

     Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.

[edit] Related terms

• idea
• ideally
• idealistic
• idealistically

[edit] Translations

[edit] Noun

ideal (plural ideals)

1. A perfect standard of beauty, intellect, etc., or a standard of excellence.
2. (mathematics, order theory) A subset of a partially ordered set comprising an element and all elements less than it.
3. (for example, algebra) A subring closed under multiplication by its containing ring.

[edit] Translations

---

[edit] German

[edit] Adjective

ideal

1. ideal (optimal, perfect)

---

[edit] Spanish

[edit] Etymology

Latin ideālis

[edit] Adjective

ideal m. and f. (plural ideales)

1. ideal

[edit] Noun

ideal m. (plural ideales)

1. ideal

---

[edit] Swedish

[edit] Pronunciation

•  audio^{help, file}

[edit] Noun

Inflection for ideal	Singular		Plural
neuter	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ideal	idealet	ideal	idealen
Genitive	ideals	idealets	ideals	idealens

ideal (n)

1. ideal; perfect standard
2. (mathematics) ideal; special subsets of a ring