idealism

American  

[ahy-dee-uh-liz-uhm] / aɪˈdi əˌlɪz əm /

noun

1. the cherishing or pursuit of high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc.

2. the practice of idealizing.

3. something idealized; an ideal representation.

4. Fine Arts. treatment of subject matter in a work of art in which a mental conception of beauty or form is stressed, characterized usually by the selection of particular features of various models and their combination into a whole according to a standard of perfection.

5. Philosophy.

   1. any system or theory that maintains that the real is of the nature of thought or that the object of external perception consists of ideas.

   2. the tendency to represent things in an ideal form, or as they might or should be rather than as they are, with emphasis on values.

---

idealism British  

/ aɪˈdɪəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. belief in or pursuance of ideals

2. the tendency to represent things in their ideal forms, rather than as they are

3. any of a group of philosophical doctrines that share the monistic view that material objects and the external world do not exist in reality independently of the human mind but are variously creations of the mind or constructs of ideas Compare materialism dualism

---

idealism Cultural  

1. An approach to philosophy that regards mind, spirit, or ideas as the most fundamental kinds of reality, or at least as governing our experience of the ordinary objects in the world. Idealism is opposed to materialism, naturalism, and realism. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was an idealist; so was Immanuel Kant.

---

Other Word Forms

• anti-idealism noun
• idealist noun
• idealistic adjective
• idealistically adverb
• overidealism noun

Etymology

Origin of idealism

First recorded in 1790–1800; ideal + -ism, probably modeled on German Idealismus

Explanation

Idealism, as "noble-mindedness," is the belief that we should always strive for our highest ideals. Sometimes, though, idealism is a sort of incurable optimism. It's one thing if you always pursue high-minded goals and right conduct — one definition of idealism. Just be careful to not get so caught up that you fail to see things as they really are — you don't want to go through life "wearing rose-colored glasses" — yet another definition of idealism. In philosophy, idealism is the theory that ideas are the only reality.

Example Sentences

Based on these challenges, Koch suggests it may be necessary to revisit older philosophical ideas like idealism or panpsychism.

From Science Daily • Apr. 6, 2026

The scene that best defines the story’s idealism happens long before Dunk gets clunked in the head or skewered by a lance.

From Salon • Feb. 23, 2026

Oscar, meanwhile, his idealism reawakened, sees an opportunity for an underprivileged kid with raw talent to escape her meager existence.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026

It adds: "Out with utopian idealism; in with hardnosed realism."

From BBC • Jan. 24, 2026

She didn’t buy into fearmongering and at the same time seemed equally inoculated against any sort of pie-in-the-sky idealism.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Related Words

• accomplishment
• evolution
• excellence
• fulfillment
• ideal
• integrity
• precision
• purity
• quality
• superiority
• supremacy
• transcendence
• virtue