illusion

illusion

noun

Definition of ILLUSION

1

a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective reality <the magician specializes in creating illusions, so that people believe they have seen something when they really haven't>

Synonyms chimera, conceit, daydream, delusion, dream, fancy, figment, hallucination, illusion, nonentity, phantasm (also fantasm), pipe dream, unreality, vision

Related Words ignis fatuus, mirage, will-o'-the-wisp; brainchild, idea; concoction, fable, fabrication, fiction, invention; envisaging, imaging, visualization; cloud-cuckoo-land, cloudland, Shangri-la, utopia; daymare, nightmare

Near Antonyms actuality, fact, reality

2

a false idea or belief <the idea that we as a nation can ever enjoy perfect security is an illusion>

Synonyms delusion, error, falsehood, falsity, hallucination, illusion, misbelief, misconception, myth, old wives' tale, untruth

Related Words factoid; superstition; fiction, pretense (or pretence); distortion, inaccuracy, misapprehension, miscomprehension, misinterpretation, misjudgment, misperception, misunderstanding; misinformation, misknowledge, misreport, misrepresentation, misstatement; sophism, sophistry; fib, half-truth, lie, story, tale

Antonyms truth, verity