illusory

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“
But the benefits of this have proven to be largely 'illusory' - given the £150bn of losses banks are likely to suffer thanks to the current meltdown, the report claims.

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Definitions (6)

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  1. adjective Produced by, based on, or having the nature of an illusion; deceptive: "Secret activities offer presidents the alluring but often illusory promise that they can achieve foreign policy goals without the bothersome debate and open decision that are staples of democracy” (Tom Wicker).

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Examples (50)

  • But the freedom was illusory, and she had always known it. —  Mary Balogh - Unforgiven
  • You know your hope was illusory, and there's nothing left to keep you here I woke with a start, still on the sofa, my head swinging suddenly up, my neck throbbing with a dull ache. —  BlackStaticHorrorMagazine#3
  • I interpreted The professor fears that x-rays may be illusory, although he does not as yet have enough evidence to decide, one way or the other Albert's face lit up. —  F ;SF; - vol 086 issue 04 - April 1994
  • He is unsure what is real and what is illusory, and so is the reader. —  StrangeHorizons,August2002
  • But the benefits of this have proven to be largely 'illusory' - given the £150bn of losses banks are likely to suffer thanks to the current meltdown, the report claims. —  This is Money | Home
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

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  1. = French illusoire = Spanish ilusorio = Portuguese Italian illusorio, from Late Latin illusor, inlusor, a mocker, from Latin illudere, inludere, past participle illusus, inlusus, mock: see illude.
 

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/ɪˈljusəri/
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