embark on a quixotic quest

/ɪmˈbɑːrk ɒn ə kwɪkˈɒtɪk kwest/

verb phrase

  1. To begin an ambitious, idealistic, but unrealistic or impractical journey, mission, or undertaking, often with noble intentions.

    C1

    embark on + noun phrase or gerundformal, literary

    • "He embarked on a quixotic quest to find the lost treasure."B2
    • "He decided to embark on a quixotic quest to end world hunger single-handedly."C1
    • "By embarking on a quixotic quest to reform the entire industry alone, she underestimated the scale of the challenge."C2

Common mistakes

  • embark in a quest→embark on a quest

    The verb embark is followed by the preposition on.

Collocations

embark on a questquixotic questembark on a journeyquixotic ambitionquixotic adventure

Word family

embarkembarkationquixoticquest