Synonyms for illusion
ɪˈlu ʒənil·lu·sion

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.7 / 3 votes

1. illusion

   A delusion is a mistaken conviction, an illusion a mistaken perception or inference. An illusion may be wholly of the senses; a delusion always involves some mental error. In an optical illusion the observer sees either what does not exist, or what exists otherwise than as he sees it, as when in a mirage distant springs and trees appear close at hand. We speak of the illusions of fancy or of hope, but of the delusions of the insane. A hallucination is a false image or belief which has nothing, outside of the disordered mind, to suggest it; as, the hallucinations of delirium tremens. Compare DECEPTION; INSANITY.

   Synonyms:
   delusion, error, fallacy, hallucination, phantasm

   Antonyms:
   actuality, certainty, fact, reality, truth, verity

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. illusion

   Synonyms:
   dream, mockery, deception, delusion, hallucination, phantasm, vision, myth, false show, error, fallacy

   Antonyms:
   fora, reality, body, substance

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:3.7 / 3 votes

1. illusion, semblancenoun

   an erroneous mental representation

   Synonyms:
   deception, legerdemain, fantasy, trick, delusion, phantasy, magic trick, thaumaturgy, head game, color, fancy, semblance, likeness, colour, magic, gloss, conjuration, conjuring trick

2. illusion, fantasy, phantasy, fancynoun

   something many people believe that is false

   "they have the illusion that I am very wealthy"

   Synonyms:
   deception, legerdemain, fantasy, trick, delusion, phantasy, magic trick, thaumaturgy, head game, conjuring trick, fancy, fondness, semblance, magic, conjuration, partiality

3. delusion, illusion, head gamenoun

   the act of deluding; deception by creating illusory ideas

   Synonyms:
   hallucination, deception, legerdemain, psychotic belief, fantasy, trick, delusion, phantasy, magic trick, head game, conjuring trick, fancy, thaumaturgy, magic, conjuration, semblance

4. magic trick, conjuring trick, trick, magic, legerdemain, conjuration, thaumaturgy, illusion, deceptionnoun

   an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers

   Synonyms:
   deception, fantasy, joke, trick, incantation, legerdemain, phantasy, magic trick, dissembling, caper, semblance, head game, put-on, fast one, dissimulation, fancy, delusion, thaumaturgy, antic, conjury, prank, misrepresentation, magic, invocation, whoremaster, john, conjuration, deceit, whoremonger, conjuring trick, conjuring

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:1.0 / 1 vote

1. illusionnoun

   Synonyms:
   delusion, hallucination, deception, error, fallacy, mockery, fantasy, phantasm, chimera, false show

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. illusionnoun

   Synonyms:
   mockery, hallucination, chimera, phantasm, delusion, glamour

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "illusion":

   delusion, mirage, fantasy, self-delusion, chimera, illusory, somethingthat, fallacy, self-deception, decoy

Suggested Resources

1. illusion

   Song lyrics by illusion -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by illusion on the Lyrics.com website.

2. Illusion

   Illusion vs. Delusion -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Illusion and Delusion.

3. Illusion

   Allusion vs. Illusion -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Allusion and Illusion.

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How to use illusion in a sentence?

1. Marcel Proust:

   The bonds that unite another person to ourselves exist only in our mind. Memory as it grows fainter relaxes them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we would fain be cheated and with which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we cheat other people, we exist alone. Man is the creature that cannot emerge from himself, that knows his fellows only in himself when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.

2. Margaret Cho:

   Ugly. Is irrelevant. It is an immeasurable insult to a woman, and then supposedly the worst crime you can commit as a woman. But ugly, as beautiful, is an illusion.

3. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier:

   When the security situation changes - and it has - then we have to adapt our military capabilities. But we cannot at the same time fall prey to the illusion that military strength alone leads to security.

4. H.W. Mann:

   Thoughts and emotions replace reality with illusion. Both are subject to exposure by truth

5. Pedro Calderon de la Barca:

   What is life An illusion, a shadow, a story, And the greatest good is little enough for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.