pipe dream

pipe dream
a pipe dream
Fig. a wish or an idea that is impossible to achieve or carry out. (From the dreams or visions induced by the smoking of an opium pipe.) •

Going to the West Indies is a pipe dream. We'll never have enough money.

Your hopes of winning a lot of money are just a silly pipe dream.

* * *
{n.}, {informal} An unrealizable, financially unsound, wishful way of thinking; an unrealistic plan. * /Joe went through the motions of pretending that he wanted to buy that $250,000 house, but his wife candidly told the real estate lady that it was just a pipe dream./ Compare: PIE IN THE SKY.

Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • pipe dream — pipe dreams also pipe dream N COUNT A pipe dream is a hope or plan that you have which you know will never really happen. You could waste your whole life on a pipe dream …   English dictionary

  • pipe dream — (n.) 1896; the sort of improbable fantasy one has while smoking opium; from PIPE (Cf. pipe) (n.) + DREAM (Cf. dream) (n.) …   Etymology dictionary

  • pipe dream — A pipe dream is an unrealistic, impractical idea or scheme …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • pipe dream — ► NOUN ▪ an unattainable or fanciful hope or scheme. ORIGIN referring to a dream experienced when smoking an opium pipe …   English terms dictionary

  • pipe dream — pipe ,dream noun count something you wish for that can never really happen …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • pipe dream — pipe′ dream n. a fanciful or unrealistic notion, hope, or plan …   From formal English to slang

  • pipe dream — [n] fantasy air castle, airy hope, castle in the sky*, chimera, daydream, fantastic notion, fool’s paradise*, unreal hope, wishful thinking; concepts 20,529,689 …   New thesaurus

  • pipe dream — ☆ pipe dream n. [in allusion to hallucinations experienced by opium smokers] Informal a fantastic idea, vain hope or plan, etc …   English World dictionary

  • pipe dream — noun a fantastic but vain hope (from fantasies induced by the opium pipe) I have this pipe dream about being emperor of the universe • Syn: ↑dream • Hypernyms: ↑fantasy, ↑phantasy * * * n daydream, dream, delusion, fantasy, reverie, romance,… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Pipe dream — A pipe dream is a fantastic hope or plan that is generally regarded as being nearly impossible to achieve. It is implied that the smoker of the pipe is smoking a substance that alters their perceptions to make something fantastical seem… …   Wikipedia

  • Pipe Dream — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel Pipe Dream – Lügen haben Klempnerbeine Originaltitel Pipe Dream …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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