Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun One more concerned with airy intellectual pursuits than practical matters like earning an income.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The story begins when Voshchev, a classic Chekhovian luftmensch, is fired from his job for excessive "thoughtfulness amid the general tempo of labor."
Deals 2010
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The story begins when Voshchev, a classic Chekhovian luftmensch, is fired from his job for excessive "thoughtfulness amid the general tempo of labor."
A Letter from the Editor on Andrey Platonov (and a sale) 2009
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The story begins when Voshchev, a classic Chekhovian luftmensch, is fired from his job for excessive "thoughtfulness amid the general tempo of labor."
Translation 2010
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The story begins when Voshchev, a classic Chekhovian luftmensch, is fired from his job for excessive "thoughtfulness amid the general tempo of labor."
From the editor 2009
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The story begins when Voshchev, a classic Chekhovian luftmensch, is fired from his job for excessive "thoughtfulness amid the general tempo of labor."
A Different Stripe: 2009
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Third, and most striking to me, is that these remarks showed him to be an unprofessional luftmensch.
TEXAS FAITH: Brit Hume and Tiger Woods | RELIGION Blog | dallasnews.com 2010
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Some days, I want to be a luftmensch and just sit around, smoke, write painfully exquisite fiction, have sex, eat, drink and let the whole shebang take care of itself. posted by Dean at
Archive 2003-09-01 Dean Francis Alfar 2003
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Some days, I want to be a luftmensch and just sit around, smoke, write painfully exquisite fiction, have sex, eat, drink and let the whole shebang take care of itself. posted by Dean at
notes from the peanut gallery Dean Francis Alfar 2003
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He began writing about Menachem Mendel, an overly optimistic luftmensch an impractical person who literally lives on air who speculated, to his wife's dismay, in all kinds of get-rich-quick schemes.
NYT > Home Page By JOSEPH BERGER 2011
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He's obviously a judgmental, punitive, rigid ideologue at heart, and a bully, but he's also a luftmensch, lost in abstraction and theory, who would rather win an argument than learn something, and he gets his rocks off nailing people for doctrinal mistakes rather than actually doing anything or attending to stuff that's happening on the ground.
The Reality-Based Community Michael O'Hare 2010
luftmensch commented on the word luftmensch
Another great German word!
October 8, 2008
jmjarmstrong commented on the word luftmensch
JM gazed heavenward, rubbed his chin and thought of other folk who might be luftmensch
February 1, 2009