Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having a naively enthusiastic, overoptimistic, or romantic view; unrealistic: a starry-eyed reformer; starry-eyed idealism.
Wiktionary
- adj. Describing one who has naïvely optimistic hopes or outlooks.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. unrealistically or naively optimistic
Examples
“Those sexy curves, those glossy wet neon planes, the liquid marble lips, the starry-eyed bulbs and longing tips bursting out gravity-free -- can't you hear it?”
“The most heroic guy in town -- a true Ayn Rand colossus -- is brought low and defeated by a starry-eyed socialist who pretends to be a businessman but wouldn't know how to scoop up a great deal if fell out of the pockets of the guy in front of him.”
“Quiet folks ... the woman who should have been the 44th President of the United States is handling our starry-eyed mainstream media with the ease that comes with being a part of the most successful Democratic presidential legacy since FDR (see Bill Clinton).”
“Let the wine speak for itself and do away with all the noise contributed by pompous winemakers and starry-eyed marketers that no longer have the ability to look at their wines with objectivity.”
“After the traditional group photos on the front porch, we drove off, leaving the starry-eyed young'uns to make their way on Mars.”
“The earnings shortfall is mostly owed to starry-eyed forecasting, but buyers should wait, writes Jack Hough.”
The Wall Street Journal: Apple 'Disappoints'? Blame Wall Street
“Caithe and Zojja were not starry-eyed about the prospects, either.”
“No, this was a uniquely charr torment—with churning water and buoyant hyenas and a pesky human and a starry-eyed sylvari leading a parade of fools.”
“But back in 1927, Nan Britton couldn't find a publisher willing to touch her account of her affair, as a starry-eyed teenager, with President Warren G.”
The Wall Street Journal: History That Tells An Unexpected Tale
“It isn't the sum of a few more malentendus* that will soon shake up my quotidien, * but one starry-eyed survivor who, by her breath, will be a constant reminder to part from my tree-hugging ways, to venture out to the end of the limb and consider the view from the tip of an unsteady branch.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘starry-eyed’.
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See, The Eyes Have It
List of words (or phrases) containing eye-, -eye-, or -eye. Beginning with red-eye and eyebright.
I've since begun adding other more oblique terms that lack the string -eye-, but that...red-eye, eyebright, arguw-eye, bigeye, bird's-eye, buckeye, blarneyed, wheyey, eyebrow, eyecup, eyedropper, eyeful and 296 more...
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Stars
star, gold star, superstar, Star Wars, Star Trek, star chart, five-pointed star, six-pointed star, eight-pointed star, Star Jones, Starbuck, Starbucks and 47 more...
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simple & useful9
heartrendingly, rancorous, ferocity, earful, dispiriting, dandification, ascribing, monotonic, smattering, yesteryear, sword of damocles, blubbering and 104 more...
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simple & useful13
rookeries, bottommost, nettlesome, extravaganza, galoot, gun moll, kludge, pollyannaish, bushwhacking, revivable, flourishing, resurgence and 97 more...
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the favourites
These are words that I like; either because they sound amazing, mean pretty things, seem particularly suited to their assigned definition, or just have good mouthfeel. The best ones embody some com...
tatterdemalion, alpenglow, dapple, defenestrate, wacky, lissom, lithe, whisper, madcap, magniloquent, whimsy, sallow and 208 more...
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Love
A general collection of the sort of words that make me happy when I hear or read them in everyday conversation and writing.
velleities, discombobulated, boggle, breathtaking, enchanting, siren, luscious, moment, fiasco, delirium, darling, ethereal and 215 more...
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✿
adamantine, almond, alpenglow, amaranth, amaranthine, amaretto, amarelle, amethyst, anacampserote, ampersand, andromeda, anemone and 153 more...
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compounds
blatherskite, buckskin, fishmonger, hoarfrost, applesauce, moonshine, fiddlehead, snickerdoodle, lodestar, lifeblood, brainchild, starry-eyed and 17 more...
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and you and I
Character sketches: people in words.
bitter, dignity, seventeen, mouth, eccentric, maiden, scientist, daughter, cynic, traveller, rogue, bones and 8 more...
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simple & useful3
mystique, lurid, starry-eyed, fluttery, slumberous, listlessness, mumbler, experiential, travesty, reciprocity, immersion, bombarding and 60 more...
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Dimélion's "Best of"
words i absolutely love!
affinity, bittersweet, deft, catharsis, rook, elysium, yggdrasil, virtue, indefinitely, slake, archaic, arcane and 81 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for starry-eyed.

dimã©lion i always like to look at words containing "unrealistic" or "unrealistically" in their definitions with optimism, like "dreamer" or "romantic". someone should make a list of Words for the Self-Proclaimed Naïve. Nov 22, 2008