IDEAL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Ideal

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/aɪdˈil/ Listen

adjective

Ideal adj.

Existing in idea or thought; conceptional; intellectual; mental; as, ideal knowledge.

Reaching an imaginary standard of excellence; fit for a model; faultless; as, ideal beauty. "There will always be a wide interval between practical and ideal excellence."

Existing in fancy or imagination only; visionary; unreal. "Planning ideal common wealth."

Teaching the doctrine of idealism; as, the ideal theory or philosophy.

(Math.) Imaginary.

Synonyms: Intellectual; mental; visionary; fanciful; imaginary; unreal; impracticable; utopian.

noun

Ideal n. A mental conception regarded as a standard of perfection; a model of excellence, beauty, etc. "The ideal is to be attained by selecting and assembling in one whole the beauties and perfections which are usually seen in different individuals, excluding everything defective or unseemly, so as to form a type or model of the species. Thus, the Apollo Belvedere is the ideal of the beauty and proportion of the human frame."

Beau ideal. See Beau ideal.

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Etymology of 'Ideal'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ideal" Quotes from Famous Books

... it yields no profitable instruction and contains no element of usefulness for the generation to whom our labors are addressed. Is it wholly unnecessary to place at this moment before the bar of England so noble a model for imitation so sublime an ideal for serious contemplation as that offered in the person of the Earl of Mansfield? Is it impertinent to warn our lawyers, that, without confirmed habits of industry, temperance, self-subjugation, unsullied honor, vast knowledge, enlightened ...

— International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, - No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 • Various

... upon everything in the universe as one's own. Soul is the highest aspiration of a righteous person. It is yoga that enables one to attain to this highest ideal of existence. One who realises this is said to be a true Brahmana, a really regenerate person, in fact, a god on Earth. Adhiyajna and Adhidaivata are words that ...

— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown

... change be tolerated if Man must rise above himself to desire it? It would, through his misconception of its nature. Man does desire an ideal Superman with such energy as he can spare from his nutrition, and has in every age magnified the best living substitute for it he can find. His least incompetent general is set up as an Alexander; his ...

— Revolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion • George Bernard Shaw

... mused a good deal over his pike and its savoury stuffing. He was not by any means an ideal monk, but he was equally far from being a scandal. He was the shrewd man of business and manager of his fraternity, conducting the farming operations and making all the bargains, following his rule respectably according to the ordinary standard of his time, but not rising to any ...

— The Armourer's Prentices • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... and made the suspicion shudder its way out of her. Lou Macon, she decided, was just the sort of girl who would think Jack Landis an ideal. Besides, she had never had an opportunity to see Donnegan in his full glory at Milligan's. And as for Donnegan? He was wearied out; his nerves relaxed; and for the deeds with which he had startled The Corner and won her own heart he was now paying the penalty in the shape of ruined nerves. ...

— Gunman's Reckoning • Max Brand

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