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Definition
something imagined, but not possible — often an idea requiring an impossible combinationAs a proper noun Chimera refers to a fire-breathing monster in Greek mythology. It is a female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.
More rarely, in biology, a chimera is an organism that contains cells or tissues with a different genotype.
Chimaera is also an acceptable spelling and the name of a type of fish.
- She describes his dream as a political chimera.
chimera = something imagined, but not possible — often an idea requiring an impossible combination
- Flaming serpents, chimaeras, and dragons rose and fell and rose againJ.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- To you, then, my goal is as much a chimera as perpetual motion?London, Jack -- Martin Eden
- St. Clair once told me that what most people think of when they hear the word "gargoyle" is really a chimera.Stephanie Perkins -- Anna and the French Kiss
- The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing.Rick Riordan -- The Lightning Thief
- I am almost ashamed to own—that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimaeras it would be possible to conceive.Edgar Allan Poe -- The Black Cat
- Jim slipped his hand through the leather mouth and hefted forth a metal shaft clustered with chimeras, Chinese dragons all fang, eyeball and moss-green armour, all cross and crescent; every symbol around the world that made men safe, or seemed to, clung there, greaving the boys' hands with odd weight and meaning.Ray Bradbury -- Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Like the chimera gallery, there's a protective wire structure to keep people from falling or jumping.Stephanie Perkins -- Anna and the French Kiss
- I don't remember the purpose of the chimeras.Stephanie Perkins -- Anna and the French Kiss
- The chimera.Stephanie Perkins -- Anna and the French Kiss
- Chimera.Stephanie Perkins -- Anna and the French Kiss
- With him Bellerophon caught and slew the fire-breathing Chimera.Homer -- Collection Of Hesiod, Homer and Homerica
- It was regarded as a mad idea, a chimera that could not be realized.Verne, Jules -- Five Weeks in a Balloon
- ], a chimera of wittol, fool, and knave: And, reverend fathers, since we all can hope Nought but a sentence, let's not now dispair it.Ben Jonson -- Volpone
- Tony's form became chimerical, indistinct.Stephen King -- The Shining
- I felt satisfaction because such a geology confirmed that I was right, that this island was a chimera, a play of the mind.Yann Martel -- Life of Pi
- As I groped out the door, and knocked at it hesitatingly, I felt that last idea to be a mere chimera.Charlotte Bronte -- Jane Eyre
- For obligations were palpable, soundly rooted in reciprocal deeds; possibilities on the other hand were chimeras, flimsy and worthless, dangerous even.Nicholas Evans -- The Horse Whisperer
- The form of government which is usually termed mixed has always appeared to me to be a mere chimera.Alexis de Toqueville -- Democracy In America, Volume 1
- The attempt was unjust and unwise; but it was not in speculation absolutely chimerical.Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay -- The Federalist Papers
chimera = an imaginary animal made up of parts of other animals
chimera = Greek mythology: a fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail
chimaeras = imagined things that are not possible in the real world
chimeras = imagined things that are not possible in the real world
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