noun
- People who lack practical skills or stable employment and live by their wits or on the margins of society; impractical dreamers or schemers.
Usage: Yiddish origin; plural form; singular is 'luftmensch'; often used with a tone of mild criticism or sympathy
Examples
- The novel portrays a cast of luftmenschen struggling to survive in the city.
- He was one of those luftmenschen who always had a new business idea but never followed through.
- The community was full of luftmenschen who lived hand to mouth.
- She dismissed his plans as the fantasies of a luftmensch with no real prospects.
- The luftmenschen gathered in the café, trading stories and half-baked schemes.