utopia: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for August 9 is:

utopia \yoo-TOH-pee-uh\ noun
1 : an imaginary and indefinitely remote place
*2 often capitalized : a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions
3 : an impractical scheme for social improvement

Example sentence:
To some folks, gated communities are visions of Utopia -- safe, quiet, and out of the way.

Did you know?
In 1516, English humanist Sir Thomas More published a book titled _Utopia_. It compared social and economic conditions in Europe with those of an ideal society on an imaginary island located off the coast of the Americas. More wanted to imply that the perfect conditions on his fictional island could never really exist, so he called it "Utopia," a name he created by combining the Greek words "ou" (meaning "no, not") and "topos" (meaning "place," a root used in our word "topography"). The modern generic use of "utopia," referring to an ideal place or society, was inspired by the book and the author's description of Utopia's perfection.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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