: one who believes in the perfectibility of human society
2
: one who proposes or advocates utopian schemes
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In 1516 Thomas More published Utopia, a description of a fictional island in the Atlantic with an ideal society, in order to draw a sharp contrast with the disorderly political situation of his own time. He created the name from topos ("place") and ou, Greek for "no", since he was well aware that nowhere so perfect was likely to exist on earth. People have long dreamed of creating utopian communities; some of them have joined communes, societies where other idealists like themselves have chosen to live in a cooperative way according to certain principles. Not just communes but plans of all kinds have been labeled utopian by critics. But we can dream, can't we?
Adjective a plan to revitalize the city's decaying downtown that proved to be overly ambitious and utopianNoun in the 19th century utopians founded a number of short-lived socialist communities
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Instead of sticking with another comedy, Wilde decided to take a risk with a thriller set in a utopian 1950s town called Victory. Karli Bendlin, Peoplemag, 29 Aug. 2022 For those on the ground, Friday’s events punctured the image of a utopian summer retreat — typically marked by thought-provoking panel discussions and leisurely swims. Kelsey Ables, Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2022 Who knew this could happen in this utopian summer community, which tries to combat the dissension in the world with conversation. Lydia Strohl, CNN, 13 Aug. 2022 In the monumental sprawl of modern-day Los Angeles, Schindler’s utopian ethos collides with realities of extreme inequality and environmental waste. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 21 July 2022 Bella Sway, a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler, is accused of a crime and left on the utopian Moon community of Moonhaven, which was created to find solutions to the problems that plague Earth. Olivia Mccormack, Washington Post, 7 July 2022 This utopian view of the internet has essentially come to fruition. Mark Minevich, Forbes, 17 June 2022 That language puts a Zuckerbergian techno-utopian polish on a change Meta is making out of pure competitive necessity. Jonathan Vanian, Fortune, 10 June 2022 Fifteen minutes after the last World War Joy show ended on Dec. 6, 2019, in Vancouver, The Chainsmokers sat down with Alpert in that unremarkable green room to discuss their next move, presenting a quasi-utopian vision. Katie Bain, Billboard, 6 May 2022
Noun
But outside the Dorado Beach gates, life is far from a utopian as the decades-long crisis makes essential services, employment, and wealth inaccessible to locals, leaving Puerto Ricans unable to thrive at home. Frances Solá-santiago, refinery29.com, 3 May 2021 Both technologies promise even more strife between the health foods crowd and Silicon Valley techno-utopians. Adrienne Bitar, Time, 28 Nov. 2019 Did Ivrea’s lefty techno-utopians run afoul of Uncle Sam? Julian Lucas, Harper's magazine, 25 Nov. 2019 Early cyberspace utopians thought censorship would soon be obsolete: the internet would treat it as a broken node and route around it.The Economist, 14 June 2019 Then there were all those annoying Tolstoyans—vegetarians, fruit-juice drinkers, utopians of every stripe—her husband encouraged to hang around the house. Joseph Epstein, WSJ, 11 May 2018 For now, the local government seems receptive toward the crypto utopians; the governor will speak at their blockchain summit conference, called Puerto Crypto, in March. Nellie Bowles, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2018 There have always been plenty of intellectuals and other utopians who ignore this basic truth, of course. Elliot Kaufman, National Review, 28 July 2017 Digital nomadism, as an update to both the old hippie trail and get-rich-quick fantasies, unsurprisingly attracts dreamers and utopians, people prone to feelings of betrayal by those who don’t live up to their own ideals. Benjamin Wallace, Daily Intelligencer, 12 July 2017 See More