Quixotic vs Pragmatic - What's the difference?
quixotic | pragmatic |
Possessing or acting with the desire to do noble and romantic deeds, without thought of realism and practicality; exceedingly idealistic.
Impulsive.
Like ; romantic to extravagance; absurdly chivalric; apt to be deluded.
Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.
* The sturdy furniture in the student lounge was pragmatic , but unattractive.
*
philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; said of literature.
* Sir W. Hamilton
* M. Arnold
As adjectives the difference between quixotic and pragmatic
is that quixotic is possessing or acting with the desire to do noble and romantic deeds, without thought of realism and practicality; exceedingly idealistic while pragmatic is practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.quixotic
English
Adjective
(en adjective)Usage notes
Although the term is derived from the name of the character Don Quixote, the letters qu and x are both read as is usual for English spelling ().Derived terms
* quixoticallypragmatic
English
Alternative forms
* pragmatick (archaic) * pragmatique (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- Nor indeed are these restrictions pragmatic'' in nature: i.e. the ill-formedness of the ''heed''-sentences in (60) is entirely different in kind from the oddity of sentences like:
(61) !That man will eat any car which thinks he?s stupid
which is purely ''pragmatic (i.e. lies in the fact that (61) describes the kind of bizarre situation which just doesn?t happen in the world we are familiar with, where cars don?t think, and people don?t eat cars).
- Pragmatic history.
- Pragmatic poetry.