starry-eyed

adjective

ˈstär-ē-ˌīd How to pronounce starry-eyed (audio)
Definition of starry-eyednext
as in romantic
having or marked by a tendency to be guided more by ideals than by reality the starry-eyed notion that international sports competitions actually help foster global harmony

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of starry-eyed Even amid dismal ratings for the US government overall, views of NASA remain relatively starry-eyed. — Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN Money, 9 Apr. 2026 It had supposedly been made in the nineteen-forties, for an Italian countess or an English lady, then scrapped, and afterward either smuggled out of the workroom by a starry-eyed seamstress or, with the atelier head’s approval, given to one of the in-house models. — Han Ong, New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2026 But Sexistential, released in March, pushes in the opposite direction, toward starry-eyed excess and abandon. — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2026 On Tuesday night, as the NFL world reeled with the Maxx Crosby news and the NBA was starry-eyed at Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, the rest of us were watching Team Italy embarrass the good ol’ US of A with an 8-6 win in the World Baseball Classic. — Jon Greenberg, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for starry-eyed
Recent Examples of Synonyms for starry-eyed
  1. romantic
  2. impractical
  3. idealistic
  4. utopian
Adjective
  • The Saturday Night Live alum worked with Fey on that show and on his current romantic dramedy, Netflix’s The Four Seasons.
    — Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Sep. 2026
  • But though these chemicals are linked to mating in animal species, a link between pheromones and romantic attraction hasn’t been established in humans.
    — Rachel Hale, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of romantic
Adjective
  • Force majeure clauses excuse a party from performance when an unforeseeable external event like extreme weather or war makes performance impossible or impractical.
    — Ashlee Difuntorum, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026
  • There is no justification for American deaths in the name of the unsustainable and impractical goal of total military dominance, let alone unnecessary wars of choice.
    — Alexander Langlois, The Orlando Sentinel, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of impractical
Adjective
  • After an idealistic youth and a subsequent nervous breakdown, our eldest Ramona, Ramona Jover, eventually finds strength in resignation to what a woman born in the 1800s can ever do or be.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Harper arrived at Bates College in Maine in 2020 as an idealistic new PhD in comparative literature, grateful for the tenure-track job that promised him that rarest of prizes these days — a career in the humanities.
    — Gary Rosen, Washington Post, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of idealistic
Adjective
  • Fuller’s ideas are hard to summarize, but always seem to reach toward a utopian vision of escaping the drudgery of everyday life.
    — Christopher Cox, Vanity Fair, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Zuckerberg’s hope is that these developers will use that freedom to develop user-friendly apps and businesses that will eventually usher in utopian AI tech to the average person.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of utopian

Browse Nearby Words

starry
starry-eyed
stars
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Cite this Entry

“Starry-eyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/starry-eyed. Accessed 3 Sep. 2026.

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