Alnascharism

/ælnæˈʃɑːrɪzəm/ noun

Definition

The tendency or practice of indulging in unrealistic fantasies and making impractical plans without rational foundation.

Etymology

From Alnaschar (the dreaming character from Arabian Nights) with the suffix -ism, which forms abstract nouns for practices, beliefs, or conditions. This is a literary coinage that elevates a character type into a philosophical tendency.

Kelly Says

Someone coined this word to describe a whole philosophy of daydreaming—it's like taking one character from a story and making it represent an entire way of thinking that people could fall into, which happens more often than we'd like to admit.

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