Ideal

Adjective

 * 1) Optimal; being the best possibility.
 * 2) Perfect, flawless, having no defects.
 * 3) Existing only in the mind; conceptual, imaginary.
 * 4) * 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society 1985, p. 256:
 * The idea of ghosts is ridiculous in the extreme; and if you continue to be swayed by ideal terrors —
 * 1) * 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, Chapter 4,
 * Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.
 * 1)  Not actually present, but considered as present when limits at infinity are included.
 * ideal point
 * An ideal triangle in the hyperbolic disk is one bounded by three geodesics that meet precisely on the circle.

Synonyms

 * See also Thesaurus:flawless

Related terms

 * ideality
 * idealless
 * ideally
 * idealism
 * idealistic
 * idealize

Noun

 * 1) A perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc., or a standard of excellence to aim at.
 * Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny - Carl Schurz
 * 1)  A subset of a partially ordered set comprising an element and all elements less than it.
 * 2)  A subring closed under multiplication by its containing ring.
 * Let $$\mathbb{Z}$$ be the ring of integers and let $$2\mathbb{Z}$$ be its ideal of even integers. Then the quotient ring $$\mathbb{Z} / 2\mathbb{Z}$$ is a Boolean ring.

Derived terms

 * left ideal
 * right ideal
 * two-sided ideal
 * principal ideal

Verbs for Ideal
assimilate—; betray—; cherish—; cling to —; consecrate to—; cultivate—; defend—; depart from—; elevate—s; embody—; exemplify—; extol—; forsake—; foster—; further—; imbue with—; inculcate—; ingrain—; inspire—; instill—; maintain—; mutilate—; nourish—; nurse—; owe to—; personify—; play havoc with—; preserve—; sacrifice to—; satisfy—; shatter—; shape—; symbolize—; weld to—; worship—; —aims at; —binds; —inspires; —permeates; — rests upon; realize—.

Adverbs for Ideal
chimerically; dreamily; fantastically; perfectly; impossibly; extravagantly; romantically; preposterously; notionally; unsubstantially; whimsically; vaporously; entertainingly; emphatically; beautifully; charmingly; emptily; nebulously; speculatively; ridiculously; vaguely.

Thesaurus
Arcadian, Edenic, Geistesgeschichte, Hegelian idea, Kantian idea, Platonic form, Platonic idea, Utopian, absolute, abstract, academic, acme, ambition, apotheosis, apprehension, archetypal, archetype, archetypical, armchair, aspiration, assumption, autism, autistic thinking, basis, beau ideal, belief, best type, beyond all praise, brainstorm, calling, caprice, cause, celestial, chaste, chimerical, classic, classical, complete, complex idea, conceit, concept, conception, conceptual, conclusion, conjectural, conjecture, consideration, consummate, conviction, criterion, cynosure, defectless, dereism, dereistic thinking, dream, dreamery, ego ideal, epitome, estimation, eternal object, eternal universal, example, excellent, exemplar, exemplary, fancied, fanciful, fancy, fantasy, faultless, feeling, fictitious, flawless, flight of fancy, formal cause, goal, good example, ground, guess, guiding light, guiding star, heavenly, hero, high goal, highest category, history of ideas, hypothesis, hypothetic, hypothetical, idealism, idealistic, ideality, idealization, idealized, ideals, ideate, ideational, ideatum, idee-force, ideological, idyllic, illusory, image, imaginary, imaginative exercise, imagined, immaculate, impeccable, impractical, impracticality, impression, inclination, indefectible, indefective, infallible, innate idea, inspiration, intellection, intention, irreproachable, jewel, judgment, just right, lodestar, mainspring, man of men, masterpiece, masterwork, matter, millennial, mirror, model, moot, morals, motive, mythic, mythical, nonesuch, nonpareil, noosphere, notion, notional, noumenon, opinion, paradigm, paradigmatic, paradisal, paragon, pattern, pattern of perfection, peerless, percept, perception, perfect, persuasion, phoenix, play of fancy, postulatory, precedential, presumption, principle, principles, prototypal, prototype, pure, quintessence, quintessential, quixotism, quixotry, reaching high, reaction, reason, reflection, regulative first principle, representative, romance, romantic, romanticism, sake, score, sentiment, shining example, simple idea, sinless, source, speculation, speculative, spotless, spring, stainless, standard, standards, subsistent form, supposition, supreme, surmise, suspicion, taintless, the Absolute, the Absolute Idea, the Self-determined, the realized ideal, theoretical, theory, thought, transcendent, transcendent idea, transcendent nonempirical concept, transcendent universal, transcendental, typical, ulterior motive, unadulterated, unblemished, uncontaminated, unfaultable, universal, universal concept, universal essence, unmixed, unpracticalness, unreal, unrealism, unreality, unspotted, untainted, upward looking, utopian, utopianism, vagary, very, very model, view, visionariness, visionary, vocation, whim, whimsy, wish fulfillment, wish-fulfillment fantasy, wishful thinking

Etymology
From idéal: <  idealis: <  idea:; see idea.

Adjective

 * Arabic: مثالي
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: (-的 -de)
 * Czech:
 * Dutch: ,
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish:, ,
 * French:


 * German:
 * Hungarian:
 * Irish:
 * Japanese:
 * Polish:
 * Russian:
 * Spanish:
 * Telugu: ఆదర్శ (aadarSa)


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 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish: ,
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 * German:
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 * Hungarian: ,
 * Irish:
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 * Spanish:
 * Telugu: ఆదర్శ (aadarSa)


 * Dutch: ideëel, conceptueel
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish:
 * French:


 * German:
 * Hungarian: képzelt
 * Polish: pojęciowy, konceptualny
 * Russian: ,


 * : perfekta
 * : ideale
 * : ideale
 * : ideale


 * : 이상적인 (isangjeogin)
 * : iдеальний (ideál’nyj)
 * : iдеальний (ideál’nyj)

Noun

 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech:
 * Dutch: ideaal, perfectie , streefdoel
 * Esperanto: ideala, perfekta
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:
 * German:
 * Greek: ιδεώδες
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Indonesian:


 * Interlingua: ideal
 * Irish:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese:
 * Korean: 이상 (isang)
 * Polish: ideał
 * Russian:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Telugu: ఆదర్శం (aadarSam)
 * Ukrainian: iдеал (ideál)


 * Irish:


 * Russian:


 * Dutch:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:
 * German:


 * Polish: ideał
 * Russian:
 * Swedish:


 * German:
 * Polish: ideał


 * Russian:

Anagrams

 * ailed, Delia, ladie

Adjective

 * 1) ideal (optimal, perfect)

Noun

 * 1) ideal

Etymology
ideālis

Adjective

 * 1) ideal

Noun

 * 1) ideal

Noun

 * 1) ideal; perfect standard
 * 2)  ideal; special subsets of a ring