From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Visionary \Vi"sion*a*ry\, a. [Cf. F. visionnaire.]
1. Of or pertaining to a visions or visions; characterized
by, appropriate to, or favorable for, visions.
[1913 Webster]
The visionary hour
When musing midnight reigns. --Thomson.
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2. Affected by phantoms; disposed to receive impressions on
the imagination; given to reverie; apt to receive, and act
upon, fancies as if they were realities.
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Or lull to rest the visionary maid. --Pope.
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3. Existing in imagination only; not real; fanciful;
imaginary; having no solid foundation; as, visionary
prospect; a visionary scheme or project. --Swift.
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Syn: Fanciful; fantastic; unreal. See {Fanciful}.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Visionary \Vi"sion*a*ry\, n.; pl. {Visionaries}.
1. One whose imagination is disturbed; one who sees visions
or phantoms.
[1913 Webster]
2. One whose imagination overpowers his reason and controls
his judgment; an unpractical schemer; one who builds
castles in the air; a daydreamer.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
visionary
adj 1: not practical or realizable; speculative; "airy theories
about socioeconomic improvement"; "visionary schemes for
getting rich" [syn: {airy}, {impractical}, {visionary},
{Laputan}, {windy}]
n 1: a person given to fanciful speculations and enthusiasms
with little regard for what is actually possible
2: a person with unusual powers of foresight [syn: {visionary},
{illusionist}, {seer}]
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
visionary
n.
1. One who hacks vision, in the sense of an Artificial Intelligence
researcher working on the problem of getting computers to ?see? things
using TV cameras. (There isn't any problem in sending information from a TV
camera to a computer. The problem is, how can the computer be programmed to
make use of the camera information? See {SMOP}, {AI-complete}.)
2. [IBM] One who reads the outside literature. At IBM, apparently, such a
penchant is viewed with awe and wonder.
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