pipe dream
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It was a pipe dream for so long … the notion that we would get a subway to the Westside,” Yaroslavsky said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026
The oil-futures market thinks oil will fall from $98 a barrel today to $80 by September and $75 by Christmas — but that may be a pipe dream.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 11, 2026
Purity is a pipe dream, though, because the politics of quitting booze are, like drinkers themselves, messy.
From Slate • Feb. 15, 2026
David Goldwyn, head of Goldwyn Global Strategies and a former Obama administration official, said it may be a pipe dream to expect oil companies to risk large sums on turning around Venezuela.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026
That old image of myself as a hero, as a man of conscience and courage, all that was just a threadbare pipe dream.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
