visionary

Etymology

vision + -ary

adj

1. having vision or foresight
   No more theſe ſeenes my meditation aid, / Or lull to reſt the viſionary mind. 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Alexander Pope, page 163
2. imaginary or illusory
   Here Mr. Jackson smiled once more upon the company; and, applying his left thumb to the tip of his nose, worked a visionary coffee-mill with his right hand, thereby performing a very graceful piece of pantomime (then much in vogue, but now, unhappily, almost obsolete) which was familiarly denominated taking a grinder. 1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
3. prophetic or revelatory
   Here frequent, at the viſionary hour, / When muſing midnight reigns or ſilent noon, / Angelic harps are in full concert heard, / And voiced chaunting from the wood-crown’d hill, / The deepening dale, or inmoſt ſilvan glade[…] 1727, James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Works of James Thomson, page 69
4. idealistic or utopian
   a visionary scheme or project
   I confeſs, the Merit of this Candour and Condeſcenſion is very much leſſened ; becauſe your Lordſhip hardly leaves us Room to offer our good Wiſhes ; removing all our Difficulties, and ſupplying our Wants, faſter than the moſt viſionary Projector can adjuſt his Schemes. c. 1712, Jonathan Swift, “A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue”, in The Works of J.S., volume I, Dublin: George Faulkner, published 1735, page 187

noun

1. Someone who has visions; a seer.
2. An impractical dreamer.
3. Someone who has positive ideas about the future.
   Robertson was finally asked to step down at the end of 1961. His successor would be Dr Beeching, who was seen as both visionary and axeman. March 8 2023, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51