{{short description|Impractical idealism}} {{Other uses|Quixotic}} [[File:Don Quijote Illustration by Gustave Dore VII.jpg|thumb|Illustration by Gustave Doré depicting the windmill scene of ''Don Quixote'', in which the hero fights with windmills, which he imagines to be giants.]]

'''Quixotism''' ({{IPAc-en|k|w|ɪ|k|ˈ|s|ɒ|t|ɪ|z|əm}} or {{IPAc-en|k|iː|ˈ|h|oʊ|t|ɪ|z|əm}} {{Pronunciation needed}}; adj. quixotic) is impracticality in pursuit of ideals, especially those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action.<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quixotic Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of quixotic]</ref> It also serves to describe an idealism without regard to practicality. An impulsive person or act might be regarded as quixotic.

Quixotism is usually related to "over-idealism", meaning an idealism that does not take consequence or absurdity into account. It is also related to naïve romanticism and to utopianism.

==Origin== Quixotism as a term or a quality appeared after the publication of ''Don Quijote'' in 1605. Don Quijote, the hero of this novel, written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, dreams up a romantic ideal world which he believes to be real, and acts on this idealism, which leads him into imaginary fights with windmills that he regards as giants, leading to the related metaphor of "tilting at windmills".

In the 17th century, the term ''quixote'' was used to describe a person who does not distinguish between reality and imagination. The poet John Cleveland wrote in 1644, in his book ''{{as written|The character of a London diurnall}}'': {{quote|The Quixotes of this Age fight with the Wind-mills of their owne Heads.<ref>[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/tilting-at-windmills.html The Phrase Finder: Tilting at windmills]</ref>}}

The word quixotism is mentioned, for the first time, in ''Pulpit Popery, True Popery'' (1688): {{quote|...all the Heroical Fictions of Ecclesiastical Quixotism...}}

Spanish language opposes quijotesco ("Quixotic") with sanchopancesco ("lacking idealism, accommodating and chuckling" after Sancho Panza).<ref name="sanchopancesco">{{cite book |title=Diccionario de la lengua española |date=2019 |publisher=Real Academia Española - Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española |edition=23.3 electronic |url=https://dle.rae.es/sanchopancesco |access-date=2 November 2020 |language=es |chapter=sanchopancesco}}</ref>

==See also== *''Chūnibyō''

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Don Quixote}}

Category:Don Quixote Category:Emotions Category:Eponyms Category:17th-century neologisms

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