Chimera
Definition
Noun
1. (Greek mythology) A fire-breathing beast with a lion’s head, goat’s body, and snake’s tail.
2. An illusion, especially an impossible or foolish dream.
3. A creature consisting of parts of different animals.
4. (literary) Something made up of parts that are very different from each other (a being that is part human, part machine might be considered a chimera).
5. (Biology) An organism or creature having two or more genetically distinct types if cells due to mutation or intentional creation.
(1, 5) Although the mythological chimer is part lion, part goat, and part snake, modern laboratories have produced animal chimeras with different parts.
(2) Don Quixote’s heroic acts were chimeras, nothing more.
Word Origin
From Greek chimaira (she-goat) > Latin chimaera.
The earliest known English use was in the 14th century. The chimera was described by Homer in The Iliad, which was probably written in the late 8th or early 9th century BC but translated to English much later.
Synonyms
delusion, fantasy, phantasm, fabrication, monster
Antonyms
fact, reality, certainty
