Chimerical in a Sentence: Meaning & Examples

Chimerical means wildly fanciful and existing only in the imagination, so a chimerical plan can never come true. To use chimerical in a sentence, attach it to a scheme, hope or dream: “He chased a chimerical fortune.” The adjective is formal and literary, and it always carries a note of gentle scorn.

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Chimerical at a glance

Chimerical is an adjective meaning imaginary, wildly fanciful and impossible in practice.
It usually describes plans, hopes, schemes and ideas, not objects or people.
The word comes from chimera, a monster of Greek myth and a name for a wish that cannot exist.
It belongs to formal and literary writing and is markedly negative.
The commonest error is using it for bold, achievable vision, where visionary belongs.
Its rarer cousin, the science word chimeric, belongs to laboratories rather than essays.

What does chimerical mean?

Chimerical is an adjective meaning wildly fanciful and unreal, applied to something that can exist only in the imagination. The Cambridge entry for chimerical links it to ideas that are unlikely and illusory. The word borrows the name of the chimera, a fire-breathing monster of Greek myth stitched from a lion, a goat and a serpent, so a chimerical plan is a patchwork that could never breathe. Anything merely imaginary is unreal, but a chimerical scheme is unreal and also absurdly hopeful.

Sense	Plain meaning	Example sentence
Impossible and fanciful	An idea that cannot be made real	The chimerical plan for a floating city sank at once.
Illusory hope	A hope kept alive against the evidence	She held a chimerical belief that the money would return.
Given to fantasy	A mind full of unreal projects	His chimerical schemes filled a drawer of notebooks.

One limitation is worth stating plainly. Chimerical is not a synonym for ambitious, new or difficult. It means impossible, and it judges the idea as foolish rather than brave. A plan that is hard but real is ambitious; a plan that ignores every fact is chimerical. The word also belongs to description and comment, so it rarely appears in technical writing, where scientists prefer the separate adjective chimeric for organisms made of mixed cells.

How do you use chimerical in a sentence?

Place the adjective before the noun it mocks, usually a scheme, hope, project or notion. Five frames cover nearly every real sentence, and each keeps the judgement that the thing described cannot be done.

Pattern	Example	What it signals
chimerical + scheme or plan	The chimerical scheme collapsed within a month.	A project built on fantasy fails fast.
a chimerical hope	He clung to a chimerical hope of rescue.	A wish kept alive against the facts.
it is chimerical to + verb	It is chimerical to expect free flights.	A formal judgement on a whole expectation.
chimerical + notion or idea	The notion of a perfect city is chimerical.	Dismisses an abstract idea as impossible.
more chimerical than + noun	Her promises were more chimerical than plans.	A comparison that sharpens the scorn.

A cartoon child draws a floating castle above the clouds while an adult shakes his head, teaching the chimerical plan pattern. — Chimerical attaches to a scheme, hope or notion, ideas that could never be built.

Chimerical in a sentence: examples across contexts

Chimerical lives in careful judgement and dry humour. The fourteen sentences below run from a business meeting to a poem, and each one shows which impossible idea is being gently dismissed.

Context	Example sentence	Why this works
Business meeting	The board called the merger a chimerical fantasy.	Applies the word to a corporate plan with no basis.
Politics	The manifesto promised a chimerical world without taxes.	Links the adjective to an impossible promise.
History essay	Alchemists pursued the chimerical dream of turning lead to gold.	Uses a famous impossible quest as the noun.
Literature	The novel ends with one last chimerical hope.	Shows the literary register the word suits.
Science writing	Early models of the atom were elegant but chimerical.	Names an idea later shown to be impossible.
Education	A timetable with no lessons before noon is chimerical.	Uses a plain example to explain the word.
Finance	Investors were sold a chimerical return of forty per cent.	Attaches the word to a false promise of profit.
Philosophy	The search for a single perfect state is chimerical.	Applies it to an abstract ideal.
Health	He pinned his recovery on a chimerical cure.	Shows the illusory-hope sense.
Conversation	Rowing to the island before dark was chimerical.	A homely example keeps the meaning clear.
Poetry	She wrote of chimerical cities under the sea.	The literary tone turns the word almost wistful.
Advertising	The slogan promised a chimerical cure for every worry.	Attaches the word to an empty commercial claim.
Sports	A perfect season was chimerical even for the champions.	Applies it to an unattainable record.
Theatre	The director’s chimerical staging needed seven impossible sets.	Shows an artistic plan that cannot be produced.

When the impossible idea is also strange and exotic rather than foolish, fantastic touches the same ground with less blame.

Chimerical vs visionary

Chimerical and visionary both describe ideas ahead of their time, and they judge those ideas in opposite ways. A visionary plan may look strange today and prove right tomorrow, while a chimerical plan is impossible on any day. The nearer cousin is fanciful, which can be playful rather than foolish.

Attribute	chimerical	visionary	fanciful
Core meaning	Impossible and unreal	Imaginative, possibly ahead of its time	Playfully imaginative
Judgement	Negative, even scornful	Usually admiring	Mild, often amused
Could it come true	No	Perhaps, later	Not the point
Typical noun	Scheme, hope, notion	Leader, design, plan	Story, costume, idea
Register	Formal and literary	Formal, often praise	Literary and light

Verdict: choose chimerical to say an idea is impossible, visionary to respect one ahead of its time, and fanciful when the idea is charming rather than absurd.

Word forms and grammar of chimerical

Chimerical is the everyday adjective, and it grows from the noun chimera. The science spelling chimeric is a different word for a different job, so it stays out of literary sentences. The adverb and the rare alternative below are correct and seldom used.

Form	Part of speech	Example
chimerical	adjective	They abandoned the chimerical project in June.
chimera	noun, the root	The chimera of a perfect market never appeared.
chimeras	noun, plural	The report catalogued his chimeras one by one.
chimerically	adverb, rare	The budget was chimerically optimistic.
chimeric	adjective, scientific	A chimeric organism carries cells from two sources.
visions without a plan	phrase, plain substitute	Plain speech prefers visions without a plan.

Common mistakes with chimerical

Incorrect: ~~Her chimerical leadership transformed the company.~~ Correct: Her visionary leadership transformed the company. Rule: Chimerical means impossible, so it cannot praise a success.
Incorrect: ~~The chimerical bridge was built in two years.~~ Correct: The ambitious bridge was built in two years. Rule: Something achieved was never chimerical.
Incorrect: ~~He is a chimerical engineer.~~ Correct: He is an impractical engineer with chimerical plans. Rule: The adjective describes the plan, not usually the person.
Incorrect: ~~The lab reported a chimerical mouse.~~ Correct: The lab reported a chimeric mouse. Rule: Mixed-cell organisms take the science spelling chimeric.
Incorrect: ~~This is a hard but chimerical task.~~ Correct: This is a hard but practical task. Rule: Difficult is not impossible; chimerical means impossible.
Incorrect: ~~They spoke chimerical about the future.~~ Correct: They spoke fancifully about the future. Rule: The rare adverb chimerically is best avoided in ordinary prose.

Practice using chimerical

Work through the eight items, then check the reasoning behind each answer.

Fill the gap: The plan to tunnel under the ocean was ______ and never left the drawing board.
Choose the better word: The founder was (chimerical / visionary) enough to see the market before it existed.
Correct the error: Their chimerical rescue operation saved the village.
Build a sentence: use it is chimerical to about expecting everyone to agree.
Spot the register: which belongs in a formal essay — the proposal was chimerical, or the proposal was pie in the sky?
Turn it into the noun: The idea of a tax-free city is chimerical. Use chimera instead.
Replace the adjective: The scheme was chimerical. Rewrite with impractical without changing the meaning.
Fix the science sentence: The team produced a chimerical plant with two cell lines, correcting the technical word.

Answers

chimerical — a tunnel that never begins is impossible, which is the core sense.
visionary — the market arrived, so the founder was ahead of the time, not foolish.
Their ambitious rescue operation saved the village — a successful act cannot be chimerical.
Model answer: It is chimerical to expect everyone to agree on the first draft.
The proposal was chimerical — a formal essay avoids the colloquial pie in the sky.
The chimera of a tax-free city persists — the noun names the impossible dream itself.
The scheme was impractical — the plain synonym keeps the sense without the literary tone.
The team produced a chimeric plant — the science adjective is chimeric, not chimerical.

A cartoon scene contrasts a dreamer drawing a floating house with a planner building on solid ground, showing chimerical and visionary. — A chimerical plan ignores the ground under it, while a visionary plan can still be built.

The bottom line

Use chimerical in a sentence when an idea is impossible as well as fanciful, and accept that the word judges the idea as foolish. The two nuances that settle most sentences are these: the adjective belongs to schemes, hopes and notions rather than people, and it is far harsher than visionary. Where the idea is hard but genuinely achievable, practical and ambitious are the fairer words.

Frequently asked questions about chimerical

Is chimerical a real word?

Chimerical is a genuine adjective with a long history, formed from the noun chimera. It appears in dictionaries and in formal writing, though it is rarer than imaginary or unrealistic. Readers recognise it, and writers use it when they want the extra note of absurdity that its mythical root supplies.

What is the difference between chimerical and chimeric?

Chimerical is the literary adjective meaning wildly fanciful and impossible. Chimeric is a separate term used mainly in biology for an organism that carries cells from two different sources. The two words share a root but belong to different worlds, so a laboratory report should use chimeric while an essay about an impossible plan uses chimerical.

Can chimerical describe a person?

It can, but it usually describes the ideas rather than the person: a chimerical mind, or a dreamer full of chimerical projects. Saying that somebody is chimerical is possible and understood, yet it sounds odd because the adjective normally attaches to schemes and hopes. Plain speech usually calls the person a dreamer.

Is chimerical always negative?

Nearly always, because the word states that an idea cannot come true. A trace of pity or amusement can soften it, as when a poet writes of chimerical cities, but the judgement stays. When an ambitious idea later succeeds, or might succeed, the right word is visionary, which admires the imagination instead of dismissing it.