visionary
Syllables: vi·sion·ar·y/ˈvɪʒn̩(ə)ɹi/US/ˈvɪʒəˌnɛɹi/
visionary adjective: having vision or foresight.
Adjective
visionary (comparative more visionary, superlative most visionary)
- Having vision or foresight.
- No more theſe ſeenes my meditation aid, / Or lull to reſt the viſionary mind.1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Alexander Pope, page 163
- Imaginary or illusory.
- I wrapp’d myself in grandeur then,
And donn’d a visionary crown—
Yet it was not that Fantasy
Had thrown her mantle over me—
But that, among the rabble—men,
Lion ambition is chain’d down— […]1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems - To many, the visionary hope which is born of the imagination may seem the very mockery of nothing. We cannot imagine what we have never experienced.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 291
- I wrapp’d myself in grandeur then,
- Prophetic or revelatory.
- Here frequent, at the viſionary hour, / When muſing midnight reigns or ſilent noon, / Angelic harps are in full concert heard, / And voiced chaunting from the wood-crown’d hill, / The deepening dale, or inmoſt ſilvan glade[…]1727, James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Works of James Thomson, page 69
- Idealistic or utopian.
- a visionary scheme or project
- I confeſs, the Merit of this Candour and Condeſcenſion is very much leſſened ; becauſe your Lordſhip hardly leaves us Room to offer our good Wiſhes ; removing all our Difficulties, and ſupplying our Wants, faſter than the moſt viſionary Projector can adjuſt his Schemes.c. 1712, Jonathan Swift, “A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue”, in The Works of J.S., volume I, Dublin: George Faulkner, published 1735, page 187
Noun
visionary (plural visionaries)
- Someone who has visions; a seer.
- An impractical dreamer.
- For seven years [Christopher Columbus] begged persistently for aid, but in vain. He was looked upon as a visionary, and the very boys in the street mocked him as a lunatic. At length he was permitted to lay his plans before a committee of learned men, but only to have them ridiculed, the council...1897, Charles Morris, A History of the United States of America: Its People, and Its Institutions, page 18
- In a military sense Russia is defenceless, and we all supposed it a proof that they were mere visionaries when they started negotiations by insisting upon not surrendering any Russian territory to the Germans.1918 January 3, Bertrand Russell, “The German Peace Offer”, in The Tribunal; republished as Autobiography, 1998, →ISBN, pages 308–9
- Someone who has creative and positive ideas about the future.
- Robertson was finally asked to step down at the end of 1961. His successor would be Dr Beeching, who was seen as both visionary and axeman.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51
visionary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
visionary in Hindi
- having vision or foresight
- दूरदर्शी dūrdarśī
- someone who has visions
- दूरदर्शी dūrdarśī
visionary in Tamil
- தொலைநோக்கர், தீர்க்கதரிசி
visionary in Marathi
- दूरदर्शी
visionary in Urdu
- الہامی, خبطی, خیالی, وہمی, خیال پرست, صاحب کشف و الہام
More languagesFewer languages
- visionary in Bengali
- দূরদর্শী
- visionary in Malayalam
- അവാസ്തവിക, ദീർഘവീഷണം പുലർത്തുന്ന, പ്രായോഗികമല്ലാത്ത, സ്വപ്നദർശിയായ
- visionary in Kannada
- ಕಲ್ಪನಾ ವಿಹಾರಿ, ಕನಸಿಗ, ಕನಸುಗಾರ, ದಾರ್ಶನಿಕ
- visionary in Gujarati
- દૂરદર્શી
- visionary in Odia
- ଦୂରଦର୍ଶୀ
- visionary in Nepali
- दूरदर्शी
Examples of visionary in a sentence
- He was looked upon as a visionary, and the very boys in the street mocked him as a lunatic.1897, Charles Morris, A History of the United States of America: Its People, and Its Institutions, page 18:
- Jefferson’s intellectual prowess led some political opponents to dismiss him as a visionary, but he was remarkably successful in politics.1991, Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., “Jefferson, Thomas”, in Eric Foner, John A. Garraty, editors, The Reader’s Companion to American History...
Forms of visionary
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more visionary |
| superlative | most visionary |
| Noun | |
| plural | visionaries |
Origin of visionary
From vision + -ary.
Words formed from visionary
Questions about visionary
- What does visionary mean?
- Visionary means having vision or foresight.
- What is visionary in Hindi?
- Visionary in Hindi is दूरदर्शी (dūrdarśī). See Visionary meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use visionary in a sentence?
- He was looked upon as a visionary, and the very boys in the street mocked him as a lunatic.
- What part of speech is visionary?
- Visionary can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce visionary?
- Visionary is pronounced /ˈvɪʒn̩(ə)ɹi/ (UK).
Words near visionary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: visionary (page history and authors); visionary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); visionary (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); visionary (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); visionary (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); visionary (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); visionary (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); visionary (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); visionary (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); visionary (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “visionary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/visionary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.