quixotic

• Don Quixotic, Don-Quixotic
• Quixotic

Derived from Spanish Quixote, the surname of Don Quixote, the title character in the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, +‎ -ic.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kwɪkˈsɒtɪk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kwɪkˈsɑtɪk/, /kwɪɡˈzɑtɪk/, /kiːˈzɑtɪk/
• (rare) IPA^(key): /kiˈɑtɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒtɪk

quixotic (comparative more quixotic, superlative most quixotic)

1. Resembling or characteristic of the Spanish chivalric hero Don Quixote; possessed with or resulting from the desire to do noble and romantic deeds, without thought of realism and practicality.
   • 1911 January 7, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Sign of the Broken Sword”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, published 1911, →OCLC:

     Olivier, as you know, was quixotic, and would not permit a secret service and spies.

   • 2012 June 21, Alessandra Stanley, “So Sayeth the Anchorman”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The message is not subliminal. […] Characters aren’t just quixotic, they cite Cervantes to one another.

   • 2017 May 29, Mariana Alessandri, “In Praise of Lost Causes”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     The war triggered in [Miguel de] Unamuno the realization that, in hopeless times, quixotic lunacy could save people from the paralysis that often accompanies defeatism.

   • 2022 April 17, Stephen Burgen, “Barcelona honours Gabriel García Márquez with new library”, in The Observer‎^[3], →ISSN:

     In the digital age, building a new library filled with old-fashioned printed books seems idealistic, almost quixotic.

2. Overly optimistic and moralistic.
3. Exceedingly idealistic.
   • 2016 September 29, Josh Lederman, Patrick Mairs, “Brain freeze? Gary Johnson can’t name favorite world leader”, in PBS NewsHour‎^[4], Associated Press, archived from the original on 8 March 2018:

     Call it a brain freeze, another 'Aleppo moment,' or a mere campaign stumble, but Gary Johnson has stumbled again in his quixotic presidential campaign.

• Although the term is derived from the name of the character Don Quixote, the letters ⟨qu⟩ and ⟨x⟩ are both typically read as is usual for English spelling (/kw/ and /ks/), possibly due to analogy with exotic. In Don Quixote, by contrast, the pronunciation usually more closely resembles the modern Spanish (/k/ and /h~x/).

• quixotism
• quixotry

quixotic (plural quixotics)

1. (rare) A quixotic person or sentiment.
   • 1975, Michael B. Schiffer, John H. House, The Cache River Archeological Project, page 179:

     The cultural quixotics attribute the change to inscrutable "cultural factors," which is tantamount to abandoning altogether the search for explanation.