'Illusion' definitions:
Definition of 'illusion'
From: WordNet
noun
An erroneous mental representation [syn: illusion, semblance]
noun
Something many people believe that is false; "they have the illusion that I am very wealthy" [syn: illusion, fantasy, phantasy, fancy]
noun
noun
An illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers [syn: magic trick, conjuring trick, trick, magic, legerdemain, conjuration, thaumaturgy, illusion, deception]
Definition of 'Illusion'
From: GCIDE
- Illusion \Il*lu"sion\, n. [F. illusion, L. illusio, fr. illudere, illusum, to illude. See Illude.]
- 1. An unreal image presented to the bodily or mental vision; a deceptive appearance; a false show; mockery; hallucination. [1913 Webster]
- To cheat the eye with blear illusions. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Hence: Anything agreeably fascinating and charming; enchantment; witchery; glamour. [1913 Webster]
- Ye soft illusions, dear deceits, arise! --Pope. [1913 Webster]
- 3. (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. [1913 Webster]
- Note: Some modern writers distinguish between an illusion and hallucination, regarding the former as originating with some external object, and the latter as having no objective occasion whatever. [1913 Webster]
- 4. A plain, delicate lace, usually of silk, used for veils, scarfs, dresses, etc.
- Syn: Delusion; mockery; deception; chimera; fallacy. See Delusion. Illusion, Delusion. Illusion refers particularly to errors of the sense; delusion to false hopes or deceptions of the mind. An optical deception is an illusion; a false opinion is a delusion. --E. Edwards. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'illusion'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- aberrancy,
- aberration,
- air,
- airy nothing,
- apparition,
- appearance,
- bamboozlement,
- bedevilment,
- befooling,
- bewitchery,
- bewitchment,
- bluffing,
- brainchild,
- bubble,
- calculated deception,
- captivation,
- chimera,
- circumvention,
- conning,
- deceiving,
- deception,
- deceptiveness,
- defectiveness,
- defrauding,
- delirium,
- delusion,
- delusiveness,
- deviancy,
- distortion,
- dream,
- dupery,
- eidolon,
- enchantment,
- enmeshment,
- ensnarement,
- entanglement,
- entrancement,
- entrapment,
- errancy,
- erroneousness,
- error,
- ether,
- fallaciousness,
- fallacy,
- falseness,
- falsity,
- fancy,
- fantasque,
- fantasy,
- fascination,
- fault,
- faultiness,
- fiction,
- figment,
- flaw,
- flawedness,
- flimflam,
- flimflammery,
- fond illusion,
- fooling,
- hallucination,
- hamartia,
- heresy,
- heterodoxy,
- hoodwinking,
- idle fancy,
- ignis fatuus,
- imagery,
- imagination,
- imagining,
- insubstantial image,
- invention,
- kidding,
- maggot,
- make-believe,
- maya,
- mirage,
- misapplication,
- misapprehension,
- misconception,
- misconstruction,
- misdoing,
- misfeasance,
- misinterpretation,
- misjudgment,
- mist,
- mistake,
- myth,
- obsession,
- outwitting,
- overreaching,
- peccancy,
- perversion,
- phantasm,
- phantasmagoria,
- phantom,
- pipe,
- pipe dream,
- possession,
- putting on,
- rainbow,
- romance,
- seeming,
- self-contradiction,
- self-deception,
- semblance,
- shadow,
- sick fancy,
- sin,
- sinfulness,
- smoke,
- snow job,
- song and dance,
- spirit,
- spoofery,
- spoofing,
- subterfuge,
- swindling,
- thick-coming fancies,
- thin air,
- trickiness,
- tricking,
- trip,
- unorthodoxy,
- untrueness,
- untruth,
- untruthfulness,
- vapor,
- victimization,
- vision,
- whim,
- whimsy,
- wildest dreams,
- willful misconception,
- wishful thinking,
- witchery,
- wrong,
- wrongness