visionary

n. seer, one who sees visions; dreamer, one who envisions new concepts

Narrowly, a visionary is one who experiences a supernatural vision or apparition.By extension, visionary came to mean also a person with a clear, distinctive and specific (in some details) vision of the future, usually connected with advances in technology or political arrangements. Examples would be Buckminster Fuller in architecture, and some of the pioneers of personal computing such as Steve Jobs. A visionary may function as a secular prophet, emphasising communication and a figurehead role, rather than implementation.
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Noun
1. a person given to fanciful speculations and enthusiasms with little regard for what is actually possible
(hypernym) person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, human, soul
(hyponym) idealist, dreamer
2. a person with unusual powers of foresight
(synonym) illusionist, seer
(hypernym) intellectual, intellect
(hyponym) anticipator, anticipant
Adjective
1. not practical or realizable; speculative; "airy theories about socioeconomic improvement"; "visionary schemes for getting rich"
(synonym) airy, impractical, Laputan
(similar) utopian

(n.)
One whose imagination overpowers his reason and controls his judgment; an unpractical schemer; one who builds castles in the air; a daydreamer.
  

(n.)
One whose imagination is disturbed; one who sees visions or phantoms.
  

(a.)
Of or pertaining to a visions or visions; characterized by, appropriate to, or favorable for, visions.
  

(a.)
Existing in imagination only; not real; fanciful; imaginary; having no solid foundation; as, visionary prospect; a visionary scheme or project.
  

(a.)
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.
  

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]