Noun: idealism I'dee-u,li-zum
- Elevated ideals or conduct; the quality of believing that ideals should be pursued
"Her idealism led her to champion unpopular but just causes";
- high-mindedness, noble-mindedness
- (philosophy) the philosophical theory that ideas are the only reality
"Berkeley's idealism argued that material objects exist only as ideas in the mind"
- Impracticality by virtue of thinking of things in their ideal form rather than as they really are
"His idealism sometimes blinded him to the harsh realities of the situation"
Derived forms: idealisms
Type of: grandeur, impracticality, magnanimousness, nobility, nobleness, philosophical doctrine, philosophical theory
Encyclopedia: Idealism