# tilt at windmills

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/tilt-at-windmills
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To attack imaginary enemies.

## Examples

- Stop tilting at windmills and focus on real problems.
- She is tilting at windmills by blaming the old manager for her own mistakes.
- Do not tilt at windmills by fighting rules that everyone else follows.
- He spends his entire day arguing with internet strangers, essentially tilting at windmills while his actual work remains unfinished.
- You are just tilting at windmills by complaining about the weather when we have a deadline to meet today.
- The lawyer realized he was tilting at windmills when he tried to sue a company that no longer exists.
- The aging politician continued to tilt at windmills, railing against long-forgotten policies that no longer posed any threat to the modern state.

## Origin

Derived from a passage in the novel Don Quixote, in which the eponymous character tilts, or jousts, at windmills that he has mistaken for giants. The image of the deluded knight-errant charging a series of grain mills under the impression that he is engaged in a heroic struggle against supernatural adversaries provides the source for the expression.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.