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  1. illusion love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. An erroneous perception of reality.
  2. n. An erroneous concept or belief.
  3. n. The condition of being deceived by a false perception or belief.
  4. n. Something, such as a fantastic plan or desire, that causes an erroneous belief or perception.
  5. n. Illusionism in art.
  6. n. A fine transparent cloth, used for dresses or trimmings.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. That which illudes or deceives; an unreal vision presented to the bodily or mental eye; deceptive appearance; false show.
  2. n. Specifically In psychology, a false perception due to the modification of a true perception by the imagination: distinguished from false appearances due to the imperfection of the bodily organs of sense, such as irradiation, and from hallucinations, into which no true perception enters. See hallucination, 2.
  3. n. The act of deceiving or imposing upon any one; deception; delusion; mockery.
  4. n. A thin and very transparent kind of tulle.
  5. n. In the pictorial arts, an imitation of the appearance of nature which is intended to create the impression of reality.

Wiktionary

  1. n. countable Anything that seems to be something that it is not.
  2. n. countable A misapprehension; a belief in something that is in fact not true.
  3. n. countable A magician’s trick.
  4. n. this sense?) (uncountable) The fact of being an illusion (in any of the above senses).

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. An unreal image presented to the bodily or mental vision; a deceptive appearance; a false show; mockery; hallucination.
  2. n. Hence: Anything agreeably fascinating and charming; enchantment; witchery; glamour.
  3. n. (Physiol.) A sensation originated by some external object, but so modified as in any way to lead to an erroneous perception; as when the rolling of a wagon is mistaken for thunder.
  4. n. A plain, delicate lace, usually of silk, used for veils, scarfs, dresses, etc.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an erroneous mental representation
  2. n. an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers
  3. n. something many people believe that is false
  4. n. the act of deluding; deception by creating illusory ideas

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin illūsiō, illūsiōn-, from Latin, a mocking, irony, from illūsus, past participle of illūdere, to mock : in-, against; + lūdere, to play. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Of course the symptoms are occurring: the term illusion refers to our interpretation of the meaning of the physical symptoms, not the existence of physical symptoms per se.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Sacred Promise

  • “It is not, however, clear that the term illusion is justified; for this supposes a distinction between truth and error-a distinction which has no meaning for the genuine pantheist; all our judgments being the utterance of the One that thinks in us, it is impossible to discriminate the true from the false.”

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 11: New Mexico-Philip

  • “Murray, like nearly everyone else, could not solve the riddle posed by Nadal's blend of power, hustle and desire: a crucial word that he translates directly from the Spanish when he speaks English, using the term "illusion.”

    NYT > Home Page

  • “In evincing the impossibility of delusion, he makes no sufficient allowance for an intermediate state, which I have before distinguished by the term illusion, and have attempted to illustrate its quality and character by reference to our mental state when dreaming.”

    Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher

  • “Photography flattens sculpture and stills its spatial violence, but Smith found that it also exposed new aspects of what he called the 'illusion of form.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Photo-Op: Ironman

  • “I'm saying that you're moronic AWOL argument has been thoroughly blasted out of the water, and your persistance of this illusion is amazing.”

    Time to impeach?

  • “As in painting, so more particularly in sculpture, that imitation of nature which we call illusion, is in no respect its excellence, nor indeed its aim.”

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 328, February, 1843

  • “A special word is necessary at this point regarding the term illusion, as it is used here and elsewhere.”

    Man or Matter

  • “The money illusion is a fraud, but seems really hard wired.”

    Matthew Yglesias » (Part of) The Case for Higher Inflation

  • “Another right-wing illusion is that there is no yoke.”

    Matthew Yglesias » Krauthammer’s Amateur Sociology

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synonyms (9)

Words with the same meaning

  1. deception
  1. chimera
  1. mockery
  1. fallacy
  1. delusion
  1. hallucination
  1. enchantment
  1. witchery
  1. glamour

hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. deception
  1. dissimulation
  1. dissembling
  1. deceit

same context (14)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. delusion
  2. vision
  1. impression
  2. notion
  1. reality
  2. mystery
  1. emotion
  2. manifestation
  1. impulse
  2. suggestion
  1. ignorance
  2. superstition
  1. happiness
  2. imagination

rhymes (21)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. allusion
  2. collusion
  3. conclusion
  4. confusion
  1. contusion
  2. delusion
  3. diffusion
  4. disillusion
  1. exclusion
  2. extrusion
  3. fusion
  4. inclusion
  1. infusion
  2. intrusion
  3. occlusion
  4. preclusion
  1. profusion
  2. rediffusion
  3. reperfusion
  4. seclusion
  1. transfusion

reverse dictionary (109)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. ignis fatuus
  2. parallelepiped
  3. eye-deceiving
  4. will-o'-the-wisp
  5. wishful thinking
  6. mirage
  7. motion
  8. movement
  9. phantom limb
  10. bubble
  11. phantom
  12. apparent motion
  13. apparent movement
  14. phantasm
  15. delusion
  16. movement-illusion
  17. prestige
  18. Maya
  19. magician
  20. magic trick
  21. disenchanting
  1. disillusion
  2. disillusioning
  3. disillusionize
  4. disillusionment
  5. illusionable
  6. illusionary
  7. illusionist
  8. cloud-cuckoo-land
  9. helminthophobia
  10. pipe-dream
  11. treget
  12. unillusory
  13. maya
  14. parosmia
  15. phantasmal
  16. prestigiate
  17. pseudoblepsis
  18. anorthoscopic
  19. begunk
  20. disillude
  21. illusive
  1. disenchant
  2. movie
  3. entasis
  4. foreshorten
  5. illusory
  6. undeceive
  7. 11,239-foot
  8. déjà vu
  9. cinematograph
  10. confidence game
  11. fairy
  12. abusion
  13. third-dimensional
  14. three-dimensional
  15. toon
  16. trompe-l'oeil
  17. two-dimensional
  18. Renoir
  19. Schopenhauer
  20. Stroheim
  21. trompe l'oeil
  1. linear perspective
  2. flipbook
  3. hard
  4. picture
  5. picture show
  6. soliloquy
  7. still
  8. animate
  9. chimera
  10. trick
  11. breakaway
  12. tactile
  13. disillusioned
  14. flat
  15. flick
  16. Heraclitus
  17. motion picture
  18. motion-picture camera
  19. motion-picture show
  20. movie camera
  21. moving
  1. moving picture
  2. moving-picture show
  3. pic
  4. three-d
  5. 2-dimensional
  6. 3-dimensional
  7. animated cartoon
  8. canal
  9. cartoon
  10. cine-camera
  11. film
  12. illusional
  13. anorthoscope
  14. cheat
  15. conceit
  16. hallucination
  17. joke
  18. magic
  19. naturalism
  20. subtlety
  21. chromatokinopsia
  1. illusorily
  2. interception-band
  3. movement-contrast
  4. space-contrast

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. The Wørd
  1. vccvcvvc
  1. figure

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tagging (6)

Words tagged ‘illusion’

  1. dwild
  1. eye-deceiving
  1. free world
  1. ignis fatuus
  1. lenticular
  1. parallelepiped

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Lists

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Comments

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  • yarb No, the other way round! Only the past is real. The present is a sensation, the future a diversion. Oct 5, 2012

  • chasdavy The nonexistent "Then" and the nonexistent "Later"are illusions / constructs of the mind that are constantly mistaken for the real thing : the incredible, concrete "Now"
    Oct 5, 2012

  • chasdavy The nonexistent "Then"and the nonexistent "Later"are

    The nonexistent "Then" and the nonexistent "Later"are illusions / constructs of the mind that are constantly mistaken for the real thing : the incredible "Now"






    Oct 5, 2012

  • jmjarmstrong JM proposes that we are able to walk on air, but only as long as our illusion supports us Aug 25, 2011

  • ilrak Michael: So .. this is the magic trick, huh?
    Gob: "Illusion," Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money. ... or candy. Apr 6, 2009

  • myth Illusion is the first of all pleasures. - Oscar Wilde Mar 7, 2009

  • bilby "Ford," said Arthur, "would you please tell me what the hell is going on?"
    "Drink up," said Ford, "you've got three pints to get through."
    "Three pints?" said Arthur. "At lunchtime?"
    The man next to Ford grinned and nodded happily. Ford ignored him. He said, "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
    - Douglas Adams, 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'. Feb 8, 2009

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‘illusion’ has been looked up 3568 times, loved by 5 people, added to 69 lists, commented on 7 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.