pipe dream

See also: pipedream

English

Alternative forms

• pipedream

Etymology

From the fantasies experienced when smoking an opium pipe. First attested in the 1800s; surely not a direct reflex of Old English pīpdrēam (“the sound or music of a pipe”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

pipe dream (plural pipe dreams)

1. (idiomatic) A plan, desire, or idea that will not likely work; a near impossibility.

   I think that his plan to become a professional athlete is a pipe dream and that he should stay in school.

   • 1962 December, “Dr. Beeching previews the plan for British Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 376:

     Only a year ago it would have needed a "super-Micawber" to be optimistic that the railways would once again pay their way. But it was no longer a pipe dream that B.R. could make a profit, the way to do it was now clear.

   Synonyms: castle in the air, pie in the sky

Translations

near impossibility

• Afrikaans: lugkasteel (air castle), wensdroom (wishful dream)
• Armenian: անիրականալի երազանք (anirakanali erazankʿ), ցնորք (hy) (cʿnorkʿ)
• Bashkir: буш (buş) хыял (xıyal)
• Bulgarian: празна надежда f (prazna nadežda), въздушна мечта (vǎzdušna mečta)
• Catalan: entelèquia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 妄想 (zh) (wàngxiǎng)

• Czech: vzdušné zámky m pl (air castles)
• Danish: ønskedrøm c, luftkastel n
• Dutch: luchtkasteel (nl) n (air castle), wensdroom (nl) m
• Esperanto: aerkastelo, ĥimero
• Finnish: pilvilinna (fi)
• French: rêve chimérique m, chimère (fr) f
• German: Luftschloss (de) n (air castle), Schnapsidee (de) n (booze idea), Wunschtraum (de) m
• Greek: ὀνειροπόληση f (ὀneiropólisi), ονειροφαντασία (el) f (oneirofantasía)
• Hebrew: (formally, dreaming of Spain) חלומות באספמיה‎ (he) m pl (ḥalomót be aspámya), (formally, tower flying in air) מִגְדָּל פּוֹרֵחַ בָּאֲוִיר‎ (he) m (migdál poréaḥ baavír)
• Hungarian: légvár (hu), vágyálom (hu), ábránd (hu)
• Japanese: 夢物語 (ゆめものがたり, yumemonogatari)
• Maori: waitara
• Norwegian: luftslott (no) n, ønskedrøm m
• Polish: mrzonka (pl) f, miraż (pl) m, marzenie ściętej głowy (pl) n
• Portuguese: quimera (pt) f
• Russian: несбы́точная мечта́ f (nesbýtočnaja mečtá) (unrealizable dream), возду́шные за́мки m pl (vozdúšnyje zámki) (air castles)
• Spanish: quimera f, entelequia f, castillo en el aire m, sueño guajiro (es)
• Swedish: luftslott (sv) n, önskedröm (sv)
• Turkish: boş hayal (tr), hülya (tr)
• Welsh: breuddwyd gwrach (cy) m

References

• “pipe dream”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.