Dictionary

chimerical en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /kaɪ-/
• /kɪˈmɛɹɪkəl/

Etymology

From chimera, from Latin chimaera, from Ancient Greek χίμαιρα (khímaira, “she-goat”). This term entered English in or around 1638.

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to a chimera.
2. Being a figment of the imagination; fantastic (in the archaic sense).
   • With his head bent, and his big feet spread apart, he began explaining his reasons for thinking the abbé’s plan chimerical. 1869, Leon Tolstoy, War and Peace (Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude):
   • "Yes; I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical, are really extremely practical—so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese." 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet:
   • a chimerical goal
3. Inherently fantastic; wildly fanciful.
   • "You are the most charming person in the world. You are invested with a perfect halo of delight," exclaimed Henrietta. "Miss Churchill has some chimerical notion of honour in her head, but that is over now; your information does not leave a single obstacle in the way of the most perfect happiness that ever wound up a fairy tale... 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 51:
4. Resulting from the expression of two or more genes that originally coded for separate proteins.
5. (of a perceived color, qualifier:vision) Impossible to physically produce due to having an impossibly-high saturation or luminosity, but viewable by overlaying an afterimage and a suitably-colored physical image.

Forms

Deriveds

chimerically

Hyponyms

stygian · hyperbolic · self-luminous

Translations (25)

ru чуда́ческий (inherently fantastic) · uk чудернацький (inherently fantastic) · fr chimérique (resulting from the expression of two or more genes) · ca quimèric (of or pertaining to a chimera) · ca quimèric (being a figment of the imagination) · uk химе́рний (inherently fantastic) · ru химери́чный (being a figment of the imagination) · pt quimérico (resulting from the expression of two or more genes) · es quimérico (resulting from the expression of two or more genes) · uk химе́рний (resulting from the expression of two or more genes) · de chimärenhaft (being a figment of the imagination) · ru химе́рный (inherently fantastic) · eo ĥimera (being a figment of the imagination) · de chimärisch (inherently fantastic) · ga ciméarach (of or pertaining to a chimera) · ar خُرَافِيّ (inherently fantastic) · eo ĥimera (inherently fantastic) · eo ĥimera (of or pertaining to a chimera) · ru химери́ческий (being a figment of the imagination) · ru химе́рный (resulting from the expression of two or more genes) · de Chimären- (of or pertaining to a chimera) · it chimerico (resulting from the expression of two or more genes) · de wunderhaft (inherently fantastic) · uk химеристий (being a figment of the imagination) · fr chimérique (of or pertaining to a chimera)