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[ adjective ] conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence; embodying an ideal
Used in print (Charles Wharton Stork, "Verner von Heidenstam"...)His ideal was Alexander_of_Macedon , as Napoleon 's was Julius_Caesar . (R. F. Shaw, "The `Private Eye`"...)In_short , the fictional private_eye is a specialized version of Adam_Smith 's ideal entrepreneur , the man whose private ambitions must always and everywhere promote the public welfare . Not_only did the ideal entrepreneur not produce the greatest good for the greatest number , he ended by destroying himself , by giving birth to monopoly capitalism . Thus the transformation of Adam_Smith 's ideal entrepreneur into a mythological detective coincides closely with the decline of the real entrepreneur in economic life . (Dan McLachlan, Jr., "Communication Networks and...)Thus the cocktail_party would appear to be the ideal system , but there is one weakness . Related terms |
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[ noun ] the idea of something that is perfect; something that one hopes to attain
Used in print (Joyce O. Hertzler, American Social Institutions;...)Religion can summate , epitomize , relate , and conserve all the highest ideals and values - ethical , aesthetic , and religious - of man formed in his culture . The kind of religious experience that most moderns seek not_only provides , clarifies , and relates human yearnings , values , ideals , and purposes ; it also provides facilities and incitements for the development of personality , sociality , and creativeness . |
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[ adjective ] represented in the abstract rather than as they really are
Synonyms Used in print (High Fidelity, 11:10...)Command has achieved the ideal amount of reverberation . Related terms |
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[ adjective ] constituting or existing only in the form of an idea or mental image or conception
Examples "a poem or essay may be typical of its period in idea or ideal content" Used in print (Brand Blanshard, "The Emotive Theory," Robert...)The first argument is thus an ideal experiment in which we use the method of difference . Related terms |
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[ adjective ] of or relating to the philosophical doctrine of the reality of ideas
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