[mod.L. (More, 1516), f. Gr. οὐ not + τόπ-ος a place: see -IA1, and cf. EUTOPIA. Hence It., Sp., Pg. Utopia, F. Utopie.]
1. An imaginary island, depicted by Sir Thomas More as enjoying a perfect social, legal, and political system.
1551. (title) A fruteful and pleasaunt Worke of the beste state of a publyque weale, and of the newe yle called Utopia: written in Latine by Syr Thomas More knyght [publ. 1516], and translated into Englyshe by Raphe Robynson.
1570. Foxe, Bk. Martyrs (ed. 2), 1156/2. I do not … thinke, that … there is any such fourth place of Purgatory at all (vnles it be in M. Mores Vtopia).
1607. A. Brewer, Lingua, II. vi. I remember in the Country of Utopia, they use no other kind of artillery.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Usury (Arb.), 544. So as that Opinion must be sent to Vtopia.
1685. Crowne, Sir C. Nice, I. Dram. Wks. 1874, III. 270. He will find it is a dream fit for nothing but Utopia.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., 66. Once upon a time,… in the land of Utopia, there was a dialogue between an oak and a cedar.
1725. [Mrs. E. Haywood] (title), Memoirs of a certain Island adjacent to the Kingdom of Utopia.
1751. J. Brown, Shaftesb. Charac., 65. But of this infallible race I know none, except the inhabitants of Utopia.
1818. [see CACOTOPIA].
1837. Macaulay, Ess., Lord Bacon (1897), 402. An acre in Middlesex is better than a principality in Utopia.
1895. Lupton, More’s Utopia, 115. Plate, Reduced facsimile of the woodcut of the Island of Utopia.
transf. 1802–13. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid., Wks. 1843, VI. 206. The law is an Utopia—a country that receives no visits, but [etc.].
b. transf. Any imaginary, indefinitely remote region, country, or locality.
1610. Th. Th[orpe], Healey’s St. Augustine’s City of God, Ded. Then [in translating Hall’s Mundus Alter et Idem, he treated] of a deuised Country scarse on earth, now of a desired Citie sure in heauen; then of Vtopia, now of Eutopia.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xii. 132. Some say it liveth in Æthiopia, others in Arabia, some … in Utopia, for such must that be which is described by Lactantius.
1684. J. P., trans. J. Ludolphus’ Hist. Ethiopia (ed. 2), 46. Ignorant where this River rises,… whether in Asia, in Africa, or in Utopia.
a. 1779. Warburton, Div. Legat., II. § 4. Wks. 1788, I. 206. A fabulous relation of a voyage to the imaginary island of Panchæa, a kind of ancient Utopia.
2. A place, state, or condition ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 708. The reports of this his voyage savour more of an Vtopia, and Plato’s Commonwealth, then of true Historie.
1641. Chas. I., in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1692), I. 727. That new Vtopia of Religion and Government into which they endeavour to transform this Kingdom.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 177. To contemplate all this not …. as an uncertain Reversion, or imaginary Vtopia, but as a state that will shortly and certainly be.
1738. Warburton, Div. Legat., I. 272. No romantic impracticable Utopia.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1792), II. 113. But the law-suits … will not permit me to go in search of my Utopia.
1818. Shelley, Julian, 179. ‘Aye, if we were not weak—and we aspire How vainly to be strong!’ said Maddalo: ‘You talk Utopia.’
1871. Morley, Condorcet, in Crit. Misc., Ser. I. 78. To find adequate gratification in the artificial construction of hypothetical utopias.
1883. Manch. Exam., 22 Nov., 5/2. Ingenious speculators who hope to reach Utopia by the nationalisation of the land.
b. An impossibly ideal scheme, esp. for social improvement.
a. 1734. North, Lives, II. 364. Young men, for want of experience,… create Utopias in their own imagination, and calculate according to their present fancy.
1843. Marryat, M. Violet, xliii. These are not the wild utopias of a heated imagination.
1869. Lecky, Europ. Mor., I. 180. Averse to all enthusiasm, mysticism, utopias, and superstition.
3. Comb., as Utopia-maker, -monger.
1821. Edin. Rev., XXXV. 320. The fantastic brain of some Utopia-monger.
1901. Glover, Life & Lett. in 4th C., 362. The general satire,… no doubt a fling at the Utopia-makers.
Hence Utopiaize v. intr., to conceive or form impossibly ideal schemes. nonce-word.
1853. Mrs. Gore, Dean’s Daughter, III. 57. A Virginia Hargreave, born to Utopia-ise over a Bostonian tea-table, concerning triumphs to be achieved.
1932. Des Moines Register, 11 Dec., 36. When conscientious Ethel Vickery, everlastingly devoted to her extremely eccentric family, attempts to utopia-ize her California canyon home, she unconsciously opens the door to bedlam.
