WordWealth: chimerical

chi·mer·i·cal \ky-MER-ih-kuhl; -MIR-; kih-\, adj.

For cultists of musical comedy, too, ''House of Flowers'' has long figured as a chimerical vision of paradise lost. Despite a creative team that included a wonderboy director named Peter Brook; the designer de luxe Oliver Messel and a cast featuring the earthy cabaret star Pearl Bailey and the breathtaking ingénue Diahann Carroll, critics had few kind words for the musical when it opened on Broadway at the tail end of 1954. —— Ben Brantley; Those Sunny Brothels Where Sin Has No Sting; New York Times; Feb 15, 2003

'Tapas' art was Dalí's unflattering appraisal of Gaudí, a reference to the tiles, crockery, needles and bedsprings he used. Gaudí's work - a rich and at times Disney-like mosaic of waving lines, chimerical arabesques and Art Deco efflorescences has provoked partisanship of monolithic proportions. —— Oliver Robinson; Riveting Eccentric; Literature on Gaudí, featuring Future of The Past, Stories Of Art; Guardian; Dec 1, 2002

If the normal climate is non-stationary, then the task of identifying the human fingerprint in global climate change becomes immeasurably more difficult. And the idea of a naturally stationary climate may well be chimerical. Climate has changed often and dramatically in the recent past. —— Breaking the Global-Warming Gridlock; The Atlantic; July 2000

More from Historical View:

Word of the wise 'Chimera'; The grotesque combination comprising the original Chimera inspired the application of that name to various other imaginary monsters...as illustrated by Merriam-Webster online.

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