NYT Dictionary
IDEAL
/aɪˈdi(ə)l/AdjectiveNouni-DE-ali-de-al · 3 syllablesGrade 3
Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2025
Meaning
Pertaining to ideas, or to a given idea.
Etymology
Origin: Latin
From French idéal, from Late Latin ideālis (“existing in idea”), by surface analysis, idea + -al, from Latin idea (“idea”); see idea. In mathematics, the noun ring theory sense was first introduced by German mathematician Richard Dedekind in his 1871 edition of a text on number theory. The concept was quickly expanded to ring theory and later generalised to order theory. The set theory and Lie theory senses can be regarded as applications of the order theory sense.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms
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NYT Puzzle Appearances
Accepted in 1 recorded puzzle: