A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
ضرب في الخيال (ḵayāl) to be in the clouds, be unrealistic; to want the impossible
Root: ض-ر-ب
Page: 620*
Example: “!وَكُلَّما التَقَيْنا بِهذا العَميل، يَنسى كُلَّ التَّقْييدات الَّتي ناقَشْناها وَيَضرِبُ في الخَيال”
Translation: “whenever we meet with this client, he forgets all the restrictions we discussed and wants the impossible!”
Notes:
- This is a verbal phrase which uses the form I verb ضَرَبَ / يَضرِبُ—but we’ll more commonly hear a nominal phrase derived from the same root: ضَرْبٌ مِن الخَيال, meaning “a fantasy”
- For more about the grammatical power of كُلّما (note how the verb following it in the example sentence is past tense… but has a present tense meaning!), see Small Arabic Words with Conditional Powers
Revise all of the vocab from the series on Quizlet:
* The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th Edition
The Arabic Pages 