Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Ideal

I-de′al

Adj.

[L.

idealis

: cf. F.

idéal

Existing in idea or thought; conceptional; intellectual; mental;

as,

ideal

knowledge

Reaching an imaginary standard of excellence; fit for a model; faultless;

as,

ideal

beauty

Byron.

There will always be a wide interval between practical and

ideal

excellence.

Rambler.

Existing in fancy or imagination only; visionary; unreal.

“Planning ideal common wealth.”

Southey.

Teaching the doctrine of idealism;

as, the

ideal

theory or philosophy

Syn. – Intellectual; mental; visionary; fanciful; imaginary; unreal; impracticable; utopian.

I-de′al

Noun.

A mental conception regarded as a standard of perfection; a model of excellence, beauty, etc.

The

ideal

is to be attained by selecting and assembling in one whole the beauties and perfections which are usually seen in different individuals, excluding everything defective or unseemly, so as to form a type or model of the species. Thus, the Apollo Belvedere is the

ideal

of the beauty and proportion of the human frame.

Fleming.

Beau ideal

See

Beau ideal

Webster 1828 Edition

Ideal

IDE'AL

Adj.

Existing in idea; intellectual; mental; as ideal knowledge.

There will always be a wide interval between practical and ideal excellence.

Visionary; existing in fancy or imagination only; as ideal good.

That considers ideas as images, phantasms, or forms in the mind; as the ideal theory or philosophy.

Definition 2024

Ideal

See also: ideal, ideał, ideál, and idéal

English

Proper noun

Ideal

A city in Georgia, USA
An unincorporated community in Illinois
An unincorporated community in South Dakota

German

Pronunciation

Rhymes: -aːl

Noun

Ideal n ‎(genitive Ideals, plural Ideale)

ideal (perfect standard, standard of excellence)
(mathematics) ideal

Declension

Declension of Ideal

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Ideal	die	Ideale
genitive	eines	des	Ideals	der	Ideale
dative	einem	dem	Ideal	den	Idealen
accusative	ein	das	Ideal	die	Ideale

ideal

See also: Ideal, ideał, ideál, and idéal

English

Adjective

ideal ‎(comparative more ideal, superlative most ideal)

Optimal; being the best possibility.
Perfect, flawless, having no defects.
- Rambler
  There will always be a wide interval between practical and ideal excellence.
Pertaining to ideas, or to a given idea.
Existing only in the mind; conceptual, imaginary.
- 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society 1985, p. 256:
  The idea of ghosts is ridiculous in the extreme; and if you continue to be swayed by ideal terrors —
- 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus,Chapter 4,
  Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.
Teaching or relating to the doctrine of idealism.
the ideal theory or philosophy
(mathematics) Not actually present, but considered as present when limits at infinity are included.

ideal point

An ideal triangle in the hyperbolic disk is one bounded by three geodesics that meet precisely on the circle.

Synonyms

See also Wikisaurus:flawless

Related terms

Translations

being optimal

Arabic: مِثَالِيّ ‎(miṯāliyy)
Asturian: ideal
Catalan: ideal (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 理想的 (zh) ‎(lǐxiǎng de)
Czech: ideální (cs)
Dutch: ideaal (nl), optimaal (nl)
Esperanto: ideala
Finnish: ihanteellinen (fi), ideaalinen (fi), ideaali- (fi) optimaalinen (fi)
French: idéal (fr)
Galician: ideal
German: ideal (de)
Hungarian: ideális (hu)

Ido: ideala (io)
Irish: idéalach
Italian: ideale (it)
Japanese: 理想的な (ja) ‎(りそうてきな, risōteki na), 理想な (ja) ‎(りそうな, risō na)
Norman: idéal
Latvian: ideāls
Luxembourgish: ideal
Persian: آرمانی (fa) ‎(ârmâni), ایده‌آل ‎(ideâl)
Polish: idealny (pl) m
Portuguese: ideal (pt)
Russian: идеа́льный (ru) ‎(ideálʹnyj)
Slovene: idealen
Spanish: ideal (es)
Telugu: ఆదర్శ (te) ‎(ādarśa)

being perfect

Asturian: ideal
Catalan: ideal (ca)
Czech: ideální (cs)
Dutch: ideaal (nl), perfect (nl), volmaakt (nl)
Esperanto: ideala
Finnish: ihanteellinen (fi), ideaalinen (fi)
French: idéal (fr), parfait (fr)
German: ideal (de), heil (de)
Greek: ιδανικός (el) ‎(idanikós)
Hungarian: tökéletes (hu), eszményi (hu)

Ido: ideala (io)
Irish: idéalach
Norman: idéal
Persian: کامل (fa) ‎(kāmel), فربود ‎(farbud), درست (fa) ‎(dorost)
Polish: idealny (pl) m
Portuguese: ideal (pt)
Russian: идеа́льный (ru) ‎(ideálʹnyj), соверше́нный (ru) ‎(soveršénnyj)
Slovene: idealen
Spanish: ideal (es)
Telugu: ఆదర్శ (te) ‎(ādarśa)

conceptual

Asturian: ideal
Catalan: ideal (ca)
Dutch: ideëel (nl), conceptueel (nl)
Esperanto: ideala
Finnish: ideaali- (fi)
French: idéal (fr)
Galician: ideal

German: ideell (de)
Hungarian: képzelt (hu)
Ido: ideala (io)
Norman: idéal
Polish: pojęciowy, konceptualny
Portuguese: ideal (pt)
Russian: идеа́льный (ru) ‎(ideálʹnyj), абстра́ктный (ru) ‎(abstráktnyj)
Slovene: idejen
Spanish: ideal (es)

at infinity

Persian: غایی (fa) ‎(ğâyi)

Noun

ideal ‎(plural ideals)

A perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc., or a standard of excellence to aim at.
Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny - Carl Schurz
(mathematics, order theory) A non-empty lower set (of a partially ordered set) which is closed under binary suprema (a.k.a. joins).
If (1) the empty set were called a "small" set, and (2) any subset of a "small" set were also a "small" set, and (3) the union of any pair of "small" sets were also a "small" set, then the set of all "small" sets would form an ideal.
(for example, algebra) A subring closed under multiplication by its containing ring.

Let $\mathbb{Z}$ be the ring of integers and let $2\mathbb{Z}$ be its ideal of even integers. Then the quotient ring $\mathbb {Z} /2\mathbb {Z}$ is a Boolean ring.

The product of two ideals ${\mathfrak {a}}$ and ${\mathfrak {b}}$ is an ideal ${\mathfrak {ab}}$ which is a subset of the intersection of ${\mathfrak {a}}$ and ${\mathfrak {b}}$ . This should help to understand why maximal ideals are prime ideals. Likewise, the union of ${\mathfrak {a}}$ and ${\mathfrak {b}}$ is a subset of ${\mathfrak {a+b}}$ .

Antonyms

(order theory): filter

Derived terms

Translations

a perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc.

Asturian: ideal m
Belarusian: ідэа́л m ‎(ideál)
Bulgarian: идеа́л (bg) m ‎(ideál)
Catalan: ideal (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 典范 (zh) ‎(diǎnfàn), 理想 (zh) ‎(lǐxiǎng)
Czech: ideál m
Dutch: ideaal (nl) n, perfectie (nl) f, streefdoel n
Esperanto: ideala, perfekta
Finnish: ihanne (fi), ideaali (fi)
French: idéal (fr) m
Galician: ideal m
German: Ideal (de) n
Greek: ιδεώδες (el) n ‎(ideódes)
Hungarian: eszmény (hu), ideál (hu)
Ido: idealo (io)
Indonesian: ideal (id)
Interlingua: ideal

Irish: idéal m
Italian: ideale (it) m
Japanese: 理想 (ja) ‎(risō)
Korean: 이상 (ko) ‎(isang)
Persian: آرمان (fa) ‎(ārmān), ایدئال ‎(ideāl)
Polish: ideał (pl) m
Portuguese: ideal (pt) m
Russian: идеа́л (ru) m ‎(ideál)
Slovak: ideál m
Slovene: ideal m
Spanish: ideal (es) m
Swedish: ideal (sv) n
Telugu: ఆదర్శం (te) ‎(ādarśaṃ)
Ukrainian: iдеал m ‎(ideál)
Vietnamese: lý tưởng (vi)
Welsh: delfryd (cy) m, f

(order theory)

Chinese:
Mandarin: 理想 (zh) ‎(lǐxiǎnɡ)

Irish: idéal m
Russian: идеа́л (ru) m ‎(ideál)

(algebra)

Chinese:
Mandarin: 理想 (zh) ‎(lǐxiǎnɡ)
Dutch: ideaal (nl) n
Finnish: ihanne (fi), ideaali (fi)
French: idéal (fr) m

German: Ideal (de) n
Polish: ideał (pl) m
Russian: идеа́л (ru) m ‎(ideál)
Swedish: ideal (sv) n

an unattainable state

German: Idealzustand m
Polish: ideał (pl) m

Russian: идеа́л (ru) m ‎(ideál)

Anagrams

ailed, Delia, ladie

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin ideālis.

Adjective

ideal (epicene, plural ideales)

ideal

Noun

ideal m ‎(plural ideales)

ideal

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin ideālis.

Adjective

ideal m, f ‎(masculine and feminine plural ideals)

ideal

Derived terms

idealment

Noun

ideal m ‎(plural ideals)

ideal

Galician

Etymology

From Latin ideālis.

Adjective

ideal m, f (plural ideais)

ideal

Derived terms

idealmente

Noun

ideal m ‎(plural ideais)

ideal

German

Etymology

Borrowing from Late Latin ideālis ‎(“existing in idea”), from Latin idea ‎(“idea”). Doublet of ideell.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ideˈaːl/
Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

ideal ‎(comparative idealer, superlative am idealsten)

ideal (optimal, perfect)

Declension

Positive forms of ideal

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist ideal	sie ist ideal	es ist ideal	sie sind ideal
strong declension (without article)	nominative	idealer	ideale	ideales	ideale
	genitive	idealen	idealer	idealen	idealer
	dative	idealem	idealer	idealem	idealen
	accusative	idealen	ideale	ideales	ideale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der ideale	die ideale	das ideale	die idealen
	genitive	des idealen	der idealen	des idealen	der idealen
	dative	dem idealen	der idealen	dem idealen	den idealen
	accusative	den idealen	die ideale	das ideale	die idealen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein idealer	eine ideale	ein ideales	(keine) idealen
	genitive	eines idealen	einer idealen	eines idealen	(keiner) idealen
	dative	einem idealen	einer idealen	einem idealen	(keinen) idealen
	accusative	einen idealen	eine ideale	ein ideales	(keine) idealen

Comparative forms of ideal

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist idealer	sie ist idealer	es ist idealer	sie sind idealer
strong declension (without article)	nominative	idealerer	idealere	idealeres	idealere
	genitive	idealeren	idealerer	idealeren	idealerer
	dative	idealerem	idealerer	idealerem	idealeren
	accusative	idealeren	idealere	idealeres	idealere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der idealere	die idealere	das idealere	die idealeren
	genitive	des idealeren	der idealeren	des idealeren	der idealeren
	dative	dem idealeren	der idealeren	dem idealeren	den idealeren
	accusative	den idealeren	die idealere	das idealere	die idealeren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein idealerer	eine idealere	ein idealeres	(keine) idealeren
	genitive	eines idealeren	einer idealeren	eines idealeren	(keiner) idealeren
	dative	einem idealeren	einer idealeren	einem idealeren	(keinen) idealeren
	accusative	einen idealeren	eine idealere	ein idealeres	(keine) idealeren

Superlative forms of ideal

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist am idealsten	sie ist am idealsten	es ist am idealsten	sie sind am idealsten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	idealster	idealste	idealstes	idealste
	genitive	idealsten	idealster	idealsten	idealster
	dative	idealstem	idealster	idealstem	idealsten
	accusative	idealsten	idealste	idealstes	idealste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der idealste	die idealste	das idealste	die idealsten
	genitive	des idealsten	der idealsten	des idealsten	der idealsten
	dative	dem idealsten	der idealsten	dem idealsten	den idealsten
	accusative	den idealsten	die idealste	das idealste	die idealsten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein idealster	eine idealste	ein idealstes	(keine) idealsten
	genitive	eines idealsten	einer idealsten	eines idealsten	(keiner) idealsten
	dative	einem idealsten	einer idealsten	einem idealsten	(keinen) idealsten
	accusative	einen idealsten	eine idealste	ein idealstes	(keine) idealsten

Derived terms

idealerweise

Luxembourgish

Adjective

ideal ‎(masculine idealen, neuter ideaalt, comparative méi ideal, superlative am ideaalsten)

ideal

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French

Noun

ideal n ‎(definite singular idealet, indefinite plural ideal or idealer, definite plural ideala or idealene)

an ideal

References

“ideal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French

Noun

ideal n ‎(definite singular idealet, indefinite plural ideal, definite plural ideala)

an ideal

References

“ideal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin ideālis.

Pronunciation

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈðjaɫ/
Hyphenation: i‧de‧al

Adjective

ideal m, f ‎(plural ideais, comparable)

Derived terms

idealmente

Noun

ideal m (plural ideais)

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /iděaːl/
Hyphenation: i‧de‧al

Noun

idèāl m ‎(Cyrillic spelling идѐа̄л)

ideal

Declension

Declension of ideal

	singular	plural
nominative	idèāl	ideali
genitive	ideála	ideala
dative	idealu	idealima
accusative	ideal	ideale
vocative	ideale	ideali
locative	idealu	idealima
instrumental	idealom	idealima

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin ideālis.

Adjective

ideal m, f ‎(plural ideales)

ideal

Derived terms

idealmente

Noun

ideal m ‎(plural ideales)

ideal

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

ideal n

ideal; perfect standard
(mathematics) ideal; special subsets of a ring

Declension

Inflection of ideal
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ideal	idealet	ideal	idealen
Genitive	ideals	idealets	ideals	idealens

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowing from French idéal.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ideˈaɫ/
Hyphenation: i‧de‧al

Adjective

ideal ‎(comparative daha ideal, superlative en ideal)

ideal

Noun

ideal ‎(definite accusative ideali, plural idealler)

ideal

Declension

declension of ideal

	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	ideal	idealler
definite accusative (belirtme)	ideali	idealleri
dative (yönelme)	ideale	ideallere
locative (bulunma)	idealde	ideallerde
ablative (ayrılma)	idealden	ideallerden
genitive (tamlayan)	idealin	ideallerin

possessive forms of ideal

benim (my)	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	idealim	ideallerim
definite accusative (belirtme)	idealimi	ideallerimi
dative (yönelme)	idealime	ideallerime
locative (bulunma)	idealimde	ideallerimde
ablative (çıkma)	idealimden	ideallerimden
genitive (tamlayan)	idealimin	ideallerimin
senin (your)	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	idealin	ideallerin
definite accusative (belirtme)	idealini	ideallerini
dative (yönelme)	idealine	ideallerine
locative (bulunma)	idealinde	ideallerinde
ablative (çıkma)	idealinden	ideallerinden
genitive (tamlayan)	idealinin	ideallerinin
onun (her/his/its)	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	ideali	idealleri
definite accusative (belirtme)	idealini	ideallerini
dative (yönelme)	idealine	ideallerine
locative (bulunma)	idealinde	ideallerinde
ablative (çıkma)	idealinden	ideallerinden
genitive (tamlayan)	idealinin	ideallerinin
bizim (our)	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	idealimiz	ideallerimiz
definite accusative (belirtme)	idealimizi	ideallerimizi
dative (yönelme)	idealimize	ideallerimize
locative (bulunma)	idealimizde	ideallerimizde
ablative (çıkma)	idealimizden	ideallerimizden
genitive (tamlayan)	idealimizin	ideallerimizin
sizin (your)	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	idealiniz	idealleriniz
definite accusative (belirtme)	idealinizi	ideallerinizi
dative (yönelme)	idealinize	ideallerinize
locative (bulunma)	idealinizde	ideallerinizde
ablative (çıkma)	idealinizden	ideallerinizden
genitive (tamlayan)	idealinizin	ideallerinizin
onların (their)	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	idealleri	idealleri
definite accusative (belirtme)	ideallerini	ideallerini
dative (yönelme)	ideallerine	ideallerine
locative (bulunma)	ideallerinde	ideallerinde
ablative (çıkma)	ideallerinden	ideallerinden
genitive (tamlayan)	ideallerinin	ideallerinin

predicative forms of ideal

simple present	singular	plural
ben (I am)	idealim	ideallerim*
sen (you are)	idealsin	ideallersin*
o (he/she/it is)	ideal / idealdir	idealler* / ideallerdir*
biz (we are)	idealiz	idealleriz
siz (you are)	idealsiniz	ideallersiniz
onlar (they are)	idealler	ideallerdir
simple past	singular	plural
ben (I was)	idealdim	ideallerdim*
sen (you were)	idealdin	ideallerdin*
o (he/she/it was)	idealdi	ideallerdi*
biz (we were)	idealdik	ideallerdik
siz (you were)	idealdiniz	ideallerdiniz
onlar (they were)	idealdiler	ideallerdi
indirect / unwitnessed past	singular	plural
ben (I was)	idealmişim	ideallermişim*
sen (you were)	idealmişsin	ideallermişsin*
o (he/she/it was)	idealmiş	ideallermiş*
biz (we were)	idealmişiz	ideallermişiz
siz (you were)	idealmişsiniz	ideallermişsiniz
onlar (they were)	idealmişler	ideallermiş
*Not used, but perhaps rarely - chiefly grammatical formations. Note: Plural forms are not used with adjectives.

Synonyms

ülkü