Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Ideal
I-de′al
,Adj.
[L.
idealis
: cf. F. idéal
.] 1.
Existing in idea or thought; conceptional; intellectual; mental;
as,
. ideal
knowledge2.
Reaching an imaginary standard of excellence; fit for a model; faultless;
as,
. ideal
beautyByron.
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
Syn. – Intellectual; mental; visionary; fanciful; imaginary; unreal; impracticable; utopian.
I-de′al
,Noun.
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
.Webster 1828 Edition
Ideal
IDE'AL
,Adj.
There will always be a wide interval between practical and ideal excellence.
1.
Visionary; existing in fancy or imagination only; as ideal good.2.
That considers ideas as images, phantasms, or forms in the mind; as the ideal theory or philosophy.