ideal — OET · Shobdo

ideal

adjective

1 it was ideal flying weather:

perfect, best possible, consummate, supreme, absolute, complete, copybook, flawless, faultless, without fault, exemplary, classic, archetypal, model, ultimate, quintessential.

▷antonyms bad.

2 a unified European culture remained as an ideal concept that inspired future kings and emperors:

abstract, theoretical, conceptual, notional, intellectual, metaphysical, philosophical, academic;

hypothetical, speculative, conjectural, conjectured, suppositional, putative;

rare suppositious, suppositive, ideational.

▷antonyms concrete.

3 the film-makers portray an ideal world:

unattainable, unachievable, impracticable, unworkable, unfeasible;

unreal, fictitious, hypothetical, theoretical, ivory-towered, imaginary, idealized, utopian, romantic, quixotic, visionary, fanciful, fairy-tale.

▷antonyms attainable; real.

noun

1 I want to be with someone who is my ideal:

perfection, paragon, epitome, ne plus ultra, beau idéal, nonpareil, crème de la crème, the last word, the ultimate, a dream;

informal one in a million, the tops, the best/greatest thing since sliced bread, the bee's knees;

archaic a nonesuch.

2 an ideal to aim at:

model, pattern, exemplar, example, paradigm, archetype, prototype, criterion, yardstick.

3 the service of others is the highest ideal:

principle, standard, rule of living, moral value, belief, conviction, persuasion;

(ideals) morals, morality, ethics, code of behaviour, code of honour, ideology, creed;

integrity, uprightness, high-mindedness, righteousness, virtue, probity, rectitude, sense of honour, honour, decency, conscience, sense of duty, scruples.

ideal Oxford Dictionary of English