illusion

Meaning

1. (countable) Anything that seems to be something that it is not.
2. (countable) A misapprehension; a belief in something that is in fact not true.
3. (countable) A magician’s trick.
4. (uncountable) The state of being deceived or misled.

Synonyms

delusion

hallucination

phantom

fantasy

deception

fallacy

vision

phantasm

fancy

magic

🪄

mirage

misconception

trick

magic trick

dream

😴💭

conjuring trick

phantasy

conjuration

thaumaturgy

unreality

legerdemain

false impression

jugglery

falsehood

confusion

supernatural

optical illusion

head game

semblance

error

false belief

thimblerig

transience

worldliness

fast one

mental image

wrong impression

mistaken belief

fantastic notion

Maya

mistaken thinking

allurement

apparition

bewilderment

bubble

charm

chimera

daydream

day-dream

deceptiveness

derision

disillusion

dreams

enchantment

fabrication

figment

flimflam

ghost

👻

imagination

impression

infatuation

invention

misapprehension

mockery

optical

perplexity

perverse

reverie

self deception

self-deception

sleight of hand

Translations

illusion

Illusion

ilusión

illusie

Täuschung

begoocheling

Sinnestäuschung

Phantom

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/

Etymology

Cognate with Old English:

In summary

From Old French illusion, from Latin illūsiō, from illūdere, from in- (“at, upon”) + lūdere (“to play, mock, trick”). Displaced native Old English dwimmer.