a pipe dream

pipe dream

A dream or idea that is impossible to accomplish. Many say that achieving world peace is a pipe dream because human beings are so flawed in their logic and emotions.
See also: dream, pipe

a pipe dream

If you describe something that someone wants to do or happen as a pipe dream, you mean that it is not realistic and will probably not happen. Oh, Toddy, it's a pipe dream. The banks won't lend you that sort of money. He said the figures showed that a third runway at the airport remained a pipe dream. Note: This expression refers to the sort of idea that someone is likely to have when they are smoking a drug in a pipe.
See also: dream, pipe
References in periodicals archive ?
A pipe dream of size n is a filling of the staircase shape (n - 1, .
Starting with a k-north-east filling of [lambda], one obtains a pipe dream by replacing every 1 by two turning pipes and every 0 by two crossing pipes.
Generalized triangulations, pipe dreams, and simplicial spheres
ET, Golf Channel viewers will find out if Burk is able to get back in the game or if it all proves to be just a pipe dream.
Golf Channel Chronicles Homeless Man's Extraordinary Journey to Regain his Life and Golf Glory in New Docu-Reality Series Pipe Dream
It's not a pipe dream, but a great development and urbanization of the City of Angels.
PUBLIC FORUM
FOR ALL WE HEAR of the rapid pace of technological development, many users in the real world consider the following truths to be self-evident: Your notebook computer never has enough juice to finish a job on the go, and commercial fuel cells are a pipe dream decades away from realization.
One for the road: diminution and durability are the keys to a fuel cell future
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