Definition of "quixotic" []

• Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality. (adjective)
• Capricious; impulsive: "At worst his scruples must have been quixotic, not malicious” ( Louis Auchincloss). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Seth has a sense of honor which I call quixotic, and one that might reasonably shame the impecunious fortune-hunters I've met since I have lived in England."
• "The rest of you can just scream impotently behind the wheel; I get to write impotently and show the younger people what the word "quixotic" means."
• "From Quixote we derived the word quixotic, meaning extravagantly chivalrous and romantically idealistic."