| Main Entry: | illusion |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | false appearance; false belief |
Synonyms: |
apparition, bubble*, chimera, confusion, daydream, deception, delusion, déjè vu, error, fallacy, false impression, fancy, fantasy, figment of imagination, fool's paradise, ghost, hallucination, head trip, hocus-pocus, idolism, ignus fatuus, image, invention, make-believe, mirage, misapprehension, misbelief, misconception, misimpression, mockery, myth, optical illusion, paramnesia, phantasm, pipe dream, rainbow*, seeming, semblance, trip*, virtual reality |
| Notes: | allusion is an 'indirect mention,' illusion is 'false impression,' and delusion is 'deception' which is much stronger than illusion an illusion is an image or conception of something actual or real that presents itself to the mind in an abnormal or distorted manner; a delusion is a false belief about oneself or other people that persists despite its being at variance with the facts |
Antonyms: |
certainty, event, fact, reality, truth |
| Main Entry: | apparition |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | ghost |
Synonyms: |
bogeyman, bump in the night, chimera, delusion, hallucination, haunt, illusion, phantasm, phantom, revenant, specter, spirit, spook, visitant |
Antonyms: |
animate, being |
| Main Entry: | appearance |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | outward show; pretense |
Synonyms: |
aura, beard, blind, countenance, dream, facade, front, guise, idea, illusion, image, impression, mirage, phenomenon, reflection, screen, seeming, semblance, sound, specter, vision |
Antonyms: |
reality |
| Main Entry: | chimera |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | dream, fantasy |
Synonyms: |
bogy, bubble, delusion, fabrication, fancy, fata morgana, figment, fool's paradise, hallucination, ignis fatuus, illusion, mirage, monster, monstrosity, pipe dream, rainbow*, snare, specter, virtual reality |
Antonyms: |
reality, truth |
| Main Entry: | deception |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | trick |
Synonyms: |
artifice, bilk, bluff, catch, cheat, chicane, con, con game, confidence game, cover-up, crock, decoy, device, dodge, fallacy, fast one, fast shuffle, feint, fib, fraud, gimmick, hoax, hogwash, hustle, illusion, imposture, jive, lie, malarkey, mare's-nest, pretext, ride*, ruse, scam, sham, shift, shuck, snare, snow job, stall, sting, story, stratagem, subterfuge, swindle, trap, trick, whitewash, wile, wrinkle |
| Main Entry: | delusion |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | misconception, misbelief |
Synonyms: |
apparition, blunder, casuistry, chicanery, daydream, deception, deceptiveness, dream, eidolon, error, fallacy, false impression, fancy, fantasy, figment, fool's paradise, ghost, hallucination, head trip, ignis fatuus, illusion, lapse, mirage, misapprehension, mistake, optical illusion, oversight, phantasm, phantom, pipe dream, self-deception, shade, speciousness, spuriousness, trickery, trip, vision |
| Notes: | allusion is an 'indirect mention,' illusion is 'false impression,' and delusion is 'deception' which is much stronger than illusion hallucination is from disturbed sensory perceptions; delusion is from disturbed thinking an illusion is an image or conception of something actual or real that presents itself to the mind in an abnormal or distorted manner; a delusion is a false belief about oneself or other people that persists despite its being at variance with the facts |
Antonyms: |
actuality, certainty, fact, reality, surety, truth |
| Main Entry: | disguise |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | covering, makeup for deception |
Synonyms: |
beard, blind, camouflage, charade, cloak, color, coloring, concealment, costume, counterfeit, cover-up, dissimulation, dress, facade, face, faking, false front, fig leaf, front*, get-up, guise, illusion, make-believe, mask, masquerade, pageant, pen name, pretense, pretension, pretentiousness, pseudonym, put-on, red herring, screen, semblance, smoke screen, trickery, veil, veneer |
| Main Entry: | fancy |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | liking, dream |
Synonyms: |
big eyes, chimera, conception, daydream, delusion, envisagement, envisioning, eyes for, fabrication, fantasy, figment, fondness, hallucination, hankering, idea, illusion, imagination, imaginativeness, inclination, invention, itch, mirage, nightmare, notion, partiality, penchant, phantasm, picture, pie in the sky, pipe dream, predilection, preference, relish, reverie, romancing, sweet tooth, vision, yearning, yen |
Antonyms: |
certainty, fact, reality, truth |
| Main Entry: | fantasy |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | imagination, dream |
Synonyms: |
Atlantis, Utopia, air castle, apparition, appearance, bubble*, chimera, conceiving, creativity, daydream, delusion, envisioning, externalizing, fabrication, fairyland, fancy, fancying, fantasia, figment, flight, flight of imagination, fool's paradise, hallucination, head trip, illusion, imaginativeness, imagining, invention, mind trip, mirage, nightmare, objectifying, originality, rainbow*, reverie, trip, vagary, vision |
Antonyms: |
reality, truth |
| Main Entry: | figment |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | creation in one's mind |
Synonyms: |
bubble*, castle in the air, chimera, daydream, dream, fable, fabrication, falsehood, fancy, fantasy, fiction, illusion, improvisation, invention, lie, nightmare, production |
Antonyms: |
reality |