See build castles in the air in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "The first term dates from the late 1500s. A variant, castles in Spain (or châteaux en Espagne), was recorded in the Roman de la Rose in the 13th century and translated into English around 1365.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "builds castles in the air",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "building castles in the air",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "built castles in the air",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "builded castles in the air",
"tags": [
"archaic",
"past",
"poetic"
]
},
{
"form": "built castles in the air",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "build<,,built> castles in the air",
"past2": "builded castles in the air",
"past2_qual": "archaic or poetic"
},
"expansion": "build castles in the air (third-person singular simple present builds castles in the air, present participle building castles in the air, simple past built castles in the air or (archaic or poetic) builded castles in the air, past participle built castles in the air)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
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{
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],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1696, John Vanbrugh, “The Relapse; or, Virtue in Danger. […]”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), London: Printed for the proprietors, under the Direction of John Bell, […], published 1795, →OCLC, act III, scene ii, page 72:",
"text": "Look you, Amanda, you may build castles in the air, \"and fume, and fret, and grow thin and lean, and pale and ugly, if you please.\" But I tell you, no man worth having is true to his wife, or can be true to his wife, or ever was, or will be so.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Conclusion”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 346:",
"text": "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1962, David Frost, That Was the Week that Was:",
"text": "Labor and you build castles in the air. Vote Conservative and you can live in them.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To have any desire, idea, or plan that is unlikely to be realized; to imagine visionary projects or schemes; to have an idle fancy or a pipe dream; to daydream."
],
"id": "en-build_castles_in_the_air-en-verb-iOMYlxyY",
"links": [
[
"desire",
"desire#Noun"
],
[
"idea",
"idea"
],
[
"plan",
"plan#Noun"
],
[
"realize",
"realize"
],
[
"imagine",
"imagine"
],
[
"visionary",
"visionary"
],
[
"projects",
"project#Noun"
],
[
"schemes",
"scheme#Noun"
],
[
"idle",
"idle"
],
[
"fancy",
"fancy#Noun"
],
[
"pipe dream",
"pipe dream"
],
[
"daydream",
"daydream#Verb"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, idiomatic) To have any desire, idea, or plan that is unlikely to be realized; to imagine visionary projects or schemes; to have an idle fancy or a pipe dream; to daydream."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "castle in the air"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "build air castles"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"transitive"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "br",
"lang": "Breton",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "sevel kestell el loar"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "fer castells a l'aire"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "stavět si vzdušné zámky"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bygge luftkasteller"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "luchtkastelen bouwen"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "konstrui kastelojn en aero"
},
{
"code": "et",
"lang": "Estonian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "õhulosse ehitama"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "rakennella pilvilinnoja"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bâtir des châteaux en Espagne"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bâtir des plans sur la comète"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "tirer des plans sur la comète"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"neuter",
"plural"
],
"word": "Luftschlösser bauen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "Schlösser in die Luft bauen"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"roman": "bana migdalim baavir",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "בנה מגדלים באוויר"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "légvárakat épít"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "fare castelli in aria"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bygge luftslott"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "byggje luftslott"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "budować zamki na lodzie"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "fazer castelos no ar"
},
{
"code": "pa",
"lang": "Punjabi",
"roman": "khiālī pulāu pakāuṇā",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "ਖਿਆਲੀ ਪੁਲਾਉ ਪਕਾਉਣਾ"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "stróitʹ vozdúšnyje zámki",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "стро́ить возду́шные за́мки"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"Cyrillic"
],
"word": "градити куле у зраку"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"Roman"
],
"word": "graditi kule u zraku"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "hacer castillos en el aire"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "forjar castillos en el aire"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "levantar castillos en el aire"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "hacer castillos de naipes"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bygga luftslott"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-build castles in the air.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/de/En-au-build_castles_in_the_air.ogg/En-au-build_castles_in_the_air.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/En-au-build_castles_in_the_air.ogg"
}
],
"word": "build castles in the air"
}
{
"etymology_text": "The first term dates from the late 1500s. A variant, castles in Spain (or châteaux en Espagne), was recorded in the Roman de la Rose in the 13th century and translated into English around 1365.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "builds castles in the air",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "building castles in the air",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "built castles in the air",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "builded castles in the air",
"tags": [
"archaic",
"past",
"poetic"
]
},
{
"form": "built castles in the air",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "build<,,built> castles in the air",
"past2": "builded castles in the air",
"past2_qual": "archaic or poetic"
},
"expansion": "build castles in the air (third-person singular simple present builds castles in the air, present participle building castles in the air, simple past built castles in the air or (archaic or poetic) builded castles in the air, past participle built castles in the air)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "castle in the air"
}
],
"senses": [
{
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"English lemmas",
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"English terms with quotations",
"English transitive verbs",
"English verbs",
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"Hebrew terms with redundant script codes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned",
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"Terms with Catalan translations",
"Terms with Czech translations",
"Terms with Danish translations",
"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with Esperanto translations",
"Terms with Estonian translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Hebrew translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
"Terms with Norwegian Nynorsk translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations",
"Terms with Punjabi translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1696, John Vanbrugh, “The Relapse; or, Virtue in Danger. […]”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), London: Printed for the proprietors, under the Direction of John Bell, […], published 1795, →OCLC, act III, scene ii, page 72:",
"text": "Look you, Amanda, you may build castles in the air, \"and fume, and fret, and grow thin and lean, and pale and ugly, if you please.\" But I tell you, no man worth having is true to his wife, or can be true to his wife, or ever was, or will be so.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Conclusion”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 346:",
"text": "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1962, David Frost, That Was the Week that Was:",
"text": "Labor and you build castles in the air. Vote Conservative and you can live in them.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To have any desire, idea, or plan that is unlikely to be realized; to imagine visionary projects or schemes; to have an idle fancy or a pipe dream; to daydream."
],
"links": [
[
"desire",
"desire#Noun"
],
[
"idea",
"idea"
],
[
"plan",
"plan#Noun"
],
[
"realize",
"realize"
],
[
"imagine",
"imagine"
],
[
"visionary",
"visionary"
],
[
"projects",
"project#Noun"
],
[
"schemes",
"scheme#Noun"
],
[
"idle",
"idle"
],
[
"fancy",
"fancy#Noun"
],
[
"pipe dream",
"pipe dream"
],
[
"daydream",
"daydream#Verb"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, idiomatic) To have any desire, idea, or plan that is unlikely to be realized; to imagine visionary projects or schemes; to have an idle fancy or a pipe dream; to daydream."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic",
"transitive"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-build castles in the air.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/de/En-au-build_castles_in_the_air.ogg/En-au-build_castles_in_the_air.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/En-au-build_castles_in_the_air.ogg"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "build air castles"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "br",
"lang": "Breton",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "sevel kestell el loar"
},
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "fer castells a l'aire"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "stavět si vzdušné zámky"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bygge luftkasteller"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "luchtkastelen bouwen"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "konstrui kastelojn en aero"
},
{
"code": "et",
"lang": "Estonian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "õhulosse ehitama"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "rakennella pilvilinnoja"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bâtir des châteaux en Espagne"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bâtir des plans sur la comète"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "tirer des plans sur la comète"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"neuter",
"plural"
],
"word": "Luftschlösser bauen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "Schlösser in die Luft bauen"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"roman": "bana migdalim baavir",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "בנה מגדלים באוויר"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "légvárakat épít"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "fare castelli in aria"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bygge luftslott"
},
{
"code": "nn",
"lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "byggje luftslott"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "budować zamki na lodzie"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "fazer castelos no ar"
},
{
"code": "pa",
"lang": "Punjabi",
"roman": "khiālī pulāu pakāuṇā",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "ਖਿਆਲੀ ਪੁਲਾਉ ਪਕਾਉਣਾ"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "stróitʹ vozdúšnyje zámki",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "стро́ить возду́шные за́мки"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"Cyrillic"
],
"word": "градити куле у зраку"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"tags": [
"Roman"
],
"word": "graditi kule u zraku"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "hacer castillos en el aire"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "forjar castillos en el aire"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "levantar castillos en el aire"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "hacer castillos de naipes"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to have any desire, idea, or plan unlikely to be realized",
"word": "bygga luftslott"
}
],
"word": "build castles in the air"
}
Download raw JSONL data for build castles in the air meaning in English (8.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (df33d17 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.