From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Visionary \Vi"sion*a*ry\, a. [Cf. F. visionnaire.]
1. Of or pertaining to a visions or visions; characterized
by, appropriate to, or favorable for, visions.
[1913 Webster]
The visionary hour
When musing midnight reigns. --Thomson.
[1913 Webster]
2. Affected by phantoms; disposed to receive impressions on
the imagination; given to reverie; apt to receive, and act
upon, fancies as if they were realities.
[1913 Webster]
Or lull to rest the visionary maid. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
3. Existing in imagination only; not real; fanciful;
imaginary; having no solid foundation; as, visionary
prospect; a visionary scheme or project. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Fanciful; fantastic; unreal. See Fanciful.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Visionary \Vi"sion*a*ry\, n.; pl. Visionaries.
1. One whose imagination is disturbed; one who sees visions
or phantoms.
[1913 Webster]
2. One whose imagination overpowers his reason and controls
his judgment; an unpractical schemer; one who builds
castles in the air; a daydreamer.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
visionary
adj 1: not practical or realizable; speculative; "airy theories
about socioeconomic improvement"; "visionary schemes for
getting rich" [syn: airy, impractical, visionary,
Laputan, windy]
n 1: a person given to fanciful speculations and enthusiasms
with little regard for what is actually possible
2: a person with unusual powers of foresight [syn: visionary,
illusionist, seer]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
visionary
1. One who hacks vision, in the sense of an Artificial
Intelligence researcher working on the problem of getting
computers to "see" things using TV cameras. (There isn't any
problem in sending information from a TV camera to a computer.
The problem is, how can the computer be programmed to make use
of the camera information? See SMOP, AI-complete.)
2. [IBM] One who reads the outside literature. At IBM,
apparently, such a penchant is viewed with awe and wonder.
[Jargon File]
From Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) [jargon]:
visionary
n.
1. One who hacks vision, in the sense of an Artificial Intelligence
researcher working on the problem of getting computers to `see' things
using TV cameras. (There isn't any problem in sending information from
a TV camera to a computer. The problem is, how can the computer be
programmed to make use of the camera information? See SMOP,
AI-complete.)
2. [IBM] One who reads the outside literature. At IBM, apparently,
such a penchant is viewed with awe and wonder.