English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From chimera, from Latin chimaera, from Ancient Greek χίμαιρα (khímaira, she-goat). This term entered English in or around 1638.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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chimerical (comparative more chimerical, superlative most chimerical)

  1. Of or pertaining to a chimera.
  2. Being a figment of the imagination; fantastic (in the archaic sense).
    a chimerical goal
    • 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet:
      "Yes; I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical, are really extremely practical—so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese."
    • 1869, Leon Tolstoy, War and Peace (Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude):
      With his head bent, and his big feet spread apart, he began explaining his reasons for thinking the abbé’s plan chimerical.
  3. Inherently fantastic; wildly fanciful.
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. [], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, [], →OCLC, page 51:
      "You are the most charming person in the world. You are invested with a perfect halo of delight," exclaimed Henrietta. "Miss Churchill has some chimerical notion of honour in her head, but that is over now; your information does not leave a single obstacle in the way of the most perfect happiness that ever wound up a fairy tale...
  4. (genetics) Resulting from the expression of two or more genes that originally coded for separate proteins.
  5. (vision, of a perceived color) Impossible to physically produce due to having an impossibly-high saturation or luminosity, but viewable by overlaying an afterimage and a suitably-colored physical image.

Hyponyms

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(color):

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Anagrams

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