flight of fancy

flight of fancy

An imaginative but unrealistic idea. No one took his campaign for office seriously because his proposed solutions to problems were filled with flights of fancy.See also: fancy, flight, of

flight of fancy

an idea or suggestion that is out of touch with reality or possibility. What is the point in indulging in flights of fancy about exotic vacations when you cannot even afford the rent?See also: fancy, flight, of

flight of fancy

An unrealistic idea or fantastic notion, a pipe dream. For example, She engaged in flights of fancy, such as owning a million-dollar house. This idiom uses flight in the sense of "a soaring of the imagination," a usage dating from the mid-1600s. See also: fancy, flight, of

a flight of fancy

or

a flight of fantasy

COMMON If you call an idea, statement, or plan a flight of fancy or a flight of fantasy, you mean that it is imaginative but not at all practical. This is no flight of fancy. The prototype is already flying, and production is to begin next year. The idea that you could use these satellites as weapons is a complete flight of fantasy.See also: fancy, flight, of

a ˌflight of ˈfancy

an idea or a statement that is very imaginative but not practical or sensible: The idea is not just a flight of fancy. It has been done before.See also: fancy, flight, of

flight of fancy

An imaginative but impractical idea. This cliché uses flight in the sense of a soaring imagination, a usage first recorded in 1668. Given this sense, fancy, meaning imagination, makes the phrase somewhat redundant, and it is not clear exactly when it was added. Oliver Goldsmith had the idea, if not the exact wording, in his poem “The Traveller” (1764): “To men of other minds my fancy flies.”See also: fancy, flight, of