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ideal

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /aɪˈdɪəl/, /aɪˈdiː.əl/, US /aɪˈdiː.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ydeall, borrowed from Late Latin ideālis (“existing in idea”),[2][3][4] from idea in the Platonic sense,[2][5] borrowed from Ancient Greek ἰδέα (idéa), from ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see”).[6] The word came partly through French idéal.[4] The noun, from 1796, is from the adjective, probably influenced by the French noun idéal.[3] It is related to idea.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to the divine archetype or model of a thing, a term of Platonic philosophy: 1410 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline.[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the early 17th century the adjective took on the senses “existing only in the mind, imaginary” (1611) and “conceived as perfect” (1613).[3][7] A person or thing regarded as a perfect example is from 1623 in the OED.[8] The noun meaning a perfect person, thing or state is from 1796, in a translation of Kant,[2][3] and a standard or model of perfection from 1849.[2] Idealism and idealist in the philosophical sense came in the 18th century.[3]

Timeline

  • 1410 – relating to the archetype of a thing.[3]
  • 1611 – existing only in the mind.[7][3]
  • 1613 – perfect, supremely excellent.[7][3]
  • 1796 – noun, a perfect thing or state.[2][3]
  • 1849 – a model of perfection.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Perfect, or the best possible for a purpose.
  2. Existing only in the mind; imaginary and not real.
  3. (philosophy) Relating to ideas or to idealism.

Noun

  1. A conception of something in its perfect form, especially as a goal.
  2. A person or thing regarded as perfect.
  3. A high principle or aim.

Word family

  • idealless
  • idealness
  • nonideal
  • unideal
  • subideal
  • ideal gas
  • ideal point
  • ideal gas law
  • ideality
  • ideally
  • idealism
  • idealistic
  • idealize
  • idea
  • idealist

Usage notes

Ideal, model, example, exemplar, standard and pattern all name something worth imitating; an ideal is a standard of perfection that may be out of reach.[9]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin