Ideal to Idioplasm
Ideal
(I*de"al) a. [L. idealis: cf. F. idéal.]
1. Existing in idea or thought; conceptional; intellectual; mental; as, ideal knowledge.
2. Reaching an imaginary standard of excellence; fit for a model; faultless; as, ideal beauty. Byron.
There will always be a wide interval between practical and ideal excellence.
Rambler. 3. Existing in fancy or imagination only; visionary; unreal. "Planning ideal common wealth." Southey.
4. Teaching the doctrine of idealism; as, the ideal theory or philosophy.
5. (Math.) Imaginary.
Syn. — Intellectual; mental; visionary; fanciful; imaginary; unreal; impracticable; utopian.
Ideal
(I*de"al) 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.
Fleming. Beau ideal. See Beau ideal.
Idealess
(I*de"a*less) a. Destitute of an idea.
Idealism
(I*de"al*ism) n. [Cf. F. idéalisme.]
1. The quality or state of being ideal.
2. Conception of the ideal; imagery.
3. (Philos.) The system or theory that denies the existence of material bodies, and teaches that we
have no rational grounds to believe in the reality of anything but ideas and their relations.
Idealist
(I*de"al*ist), n. [Cf. F. idéaliste.]
1. One who idealizes; one who forms picturesque fancies; one given to romantic expectations.
2. One who holds the doctrine of idealism.
Idealistic
(I*de`al*is"tic) a. Of or pertaining to idealists or their theories.
Ideality
(I`de*al"i*ty) n.; pl. Idealities
1. The quality or state of being ideal.
2. The capacity to form ideals of beauty or perfection.
3. (Phren.) The conceptive faculty.
Idealization
(I*de`al*i*za"tion) n.
1. The act or process of idealizing.
