Antonyms for ivory-tower
Grammar : Adj, noun |
Definition of ivory-tower
Origin :- as a symbol of artistic or intellectual aloofness, by 1889, from French tour d'ivoire, used in 1837 by critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869) with reference to the poet Alfred de Vigny, whom he accused of excessive aloofness.
- Et Vigny, plus secret, comme en sa tour d'ivoire, avant midi rentrait. [Sainte-Beuve, "Pensées d'Août, à M. Villemain," 1837]
- Used earlier as a type of a wonder or a symbol of "the ideal." The literal image is perhaps from Song of Solomon [vii:4]:
- Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. [KJV]
- As in starry-eyed : adj unrealistic
- As in unrealistic : adj not believable or practical
- As in impractical : adj unrealistic
- As in unnegotiable : adj impracticable
- As in unusable : adj impracticable
- As in unworkable : adj impracticable
- As in ideal : adj conceptual; impractical
- As in impractical/impracticable : adj unrealistic
- As in ivory tower : noun place of learning
Synonyms for ivory-tower
- abstract
- absurd
- blue sky
- chimerical
- dreaming
- dreamlike
- extravagant
- fanciful
- fictitious
- floating
- gone
- half-baked
- halls of ivy
- hermitage
- high-flown
- hoping
- hypothetical
- idealistic
- illogical
- imaginary
- impossible
- impracticable
- impractical
- improbable
- in the clouds
- inapplicable
- inefficacious
- infeasible
- inoperable
- intellectual
- intellectual isolation
- irrealizable
- ivory-tower
- mental
- mercurial
- no go
- no-go
- nonfunctional
- nonrealistic
- nonsensical
- nonviable
- not a prayer
- not applicable
- not sensible
- notional
- on cloud nine
- optimistic
- otherworldly
- out of the question
- out-of-reach
- quixotic
- reachy
- romantic
- silly
- speculative
- starry-eyed
- study
- theoretical
- transcendent
- transcendental
- unattainable
- unbusinesslike
- unearthly
- unfeasible
- unnegotiable
- unreal
- unserviceable
- unusable
- unwise
- unworkable
- useless
- utopian
- visionary
- wild
- won't fly
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019