Example sentence: "Wouldn't you say that Bob's mission to expose government cover-ups of Mind-Control experiments is rather Quixotic"?
(Pronounced: kee-oh-tik, I believe).
Don Quixote, if I have heard correctly (never having read the book myself), was a self proclaimed knight who sought to defeat the "giants" (which were really Windmills). On a horse with a lance as his weapon, this would have been an utterly futile quest for many reasons. When someone says that something or another is Quixotic, they are likening it to Don Quixote's quest. (Now, it is entirely possible that I am off on a few details here. If someone knows better, please correct me).