MEANING
1. A fire-breathing composite monster of Greek myth, associated with a lion, goat, and serpent.
2. A hoped-for scheme or ideal that cannot realistically be achieved.
3. An organism containing cell populations with different genetic origins.
Use it for
hybrid monsters; incompatible natures; impossible ambitionsUse a composite creature whose parts make competing demands on the scene.
Words that belong together
- fire-breathing chimera
- chimera's heads
- fight a chimera
On the page
The chimera's goat head chewed while its lion jaws snarled.
He found a mosaic of a chimera under the ruined bath.
Each wound on the chimera angered a different head.
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- chimera
Usage notes
Primary category: fantasy. Also means an unrealizable idea or an organism with genetically distinct tissues; these senses are not interchangeable with the mythic beast. Noun: chimera; plural chimeras; chimaeras.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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