delusional

adjective

1
as in illusory

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Dissimilar Words
2
as in delusionary

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of delusional None of these pronouncements has panned out; some have bordered on delusional. — Robin Wright, New Yorker, 17 July 2026 For Slattery, what begins as an exercise in comic self-demolition gradually becomes the movie’s biggest surprise, with the actor turning a desperate, delusional version of himself into its most unexpectedly lovable character. — Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026 Grief experts are wary of these potential harms, too — especially since several major AI companies faced wrongful death lawsuits claiming AI chatbots encouraged self-harm or pushed users into delusional mental states. — Ella Chakarian, Rolling Stone, 28 June 2026 In an interview with NPR, Wolff said neighbors, family, and teachers all agreed that Saldaño was sometimes delusional and unable to understand such simple directions as how to cross the street without being hit by a car. — Nina Totenberg, NPR, 22 June 2026 And 15 percent reported that their patients developed delusional thinking associated with the AI use. — Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 18 June 2026 Everyone's favorite hideous ogre and delusional donkey are finally reunited. — Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly, 16 June 2026 There are a lot of delusional people involved in this, too. — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 16 June 2026 The press was its usual caustic self this weekend, filled with talk about delusional investors who will have a hard lesson to learn. — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 14 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for delusional
  1. illusory
  2. paranoid
  3. hallucinatory
  4. schizophrenic
  5. delusive
  6. neurotic
  7. surreal
  8. schizoid
Adjective
  • Conversations need grounding as intuitive Moon in your 3rd House of Communication opposes illusory Neptune in your 9th House of Travel and Learning, so facts and visions compete.
    — Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 22 June 2026
  • That is, real, not merely illusory, measures, so that the allure to breach peace for imagined gains is overshadowed.
    — Keith Tidman, Baltimore Sun, 15 June 2026
Definition of illusory
Adjective
  • Panic Carefully, described as a paranoid thriller reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs, stars Elizabeth Olsen, Julia Roberts, Eddie Redmayne, Brian Tyree Henry, Ben Chaplin, Aidan Gillen, Joe Alwyn and Naledi Murray.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 15 July 2026
  • Petty played Lolly Whitehill, a kind but mentally unstable inmate whose paranoid delusions repeatedly landed her in psychiatric care.
    — Gwen Ihnat, Entertainment Weekly, 11 July 2026
Definition of paranoid
Adjective
  • Both for the islanders and for us, the summer shimmers with a hallucinatory mixture of languor and emotional speed, as summers do in childhood.
    — Lillian Fishman, New Yorker, 27 June 2026
  • Such hallucinatory citations are, according to judges and lawyers, troubling at a variety of levels, including for their threat to the integrity of the judicial system.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 26 June 2026
Definition of hallucinatory
Adjective
  • As her life is starting, her mother suffers from an acute schizophrenic episode.
    — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 16 June 2026
  • Americans call the sport soccer, the rest of the world calls it football, and therein lies the rub, the disconnection at the heart of the schizophrenic All-American life of Gilbert Chevalier.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 May 2026
Definition of schizophrenic
Adjective
  • This isn’t callousness or delusive optimism but, rather, a rebellion against the suffocating expectation that the elderly have foreclosed the possibility of joy.
    — Hillary Kelly, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2024
  • To separate art from its historical framework is futile, and to reject it in an effort to censor past violence is a delusive act of virtue signaling.
    — WSJ, WSJ, 5 July 2022
Definition of delusive
Adjective
  • Storied actor Judd Hirsch played Daniel’s lovably neurotic father, who finds himself unwittingly along for the top-secret ride.
    — Maggie Fremont, Entertainment Weekly, 3 July 2026
  • But the real shock here is Wilde, who not only knows how to keep viewers on the back foot as a filmmaker but slides into a neurotic register and off-kilter comic timing for her high-strung hostess that fit her like rubber glove.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2026
Definition of neurotic
Adjective
  • The movie itself is strange — a collection of six surreal shorts cobbled together to look like the cable-access and PBS fare Frost grew up on.
    — Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 18 July 2026
  • The feeling is surreal, because the core of ‘Saiyaara’ was always the fact that a song has the power to take you back to a moment, bring back a memory… bring back love.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 18 July 2026
Definition of surreal
Adjective
  • The idea of a schizoid Lady M is not entirely without appeal, but despite strong performances across the board, the work runs aground fast.
    — Rhoda Feng, Washington Post, 14 Apr. 2024
  • The entire movie, of course, was a goof, a schizoid cardboard Vaudeville horror burlesque shot in two days and a night by Roger Corman.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024
Definition of schizoid

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Cite this Entry

“Delusional.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/delusional. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

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