1
as in illusory
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2
as in delusionary
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for delusional
Adjective
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Wells’s attempt to hold the two in balance relied on a division between art and politics, but that division is entirely illusory.—
Kamila Shamsie
June 20,
Literary Hub,
20 June 2025 -
Freedom without effective enforcement is illusory, as history repeatedly demonstrates.—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
18 June 2025
Adjective
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The fiscal fiasco was built on the hallucinatory claim that California enjoyed a $97.5 billion surplus.—
U T Editorial Board,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
20 June 2025
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Adding hallucinatory horror and Jenna Elfman, the show continues our Golden Age of Airport Novel Adaptations (see also: Slow Horses, Reacher, Dept. Q).—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
18 June 2025
Adjective
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Hostile or disapproving questions about a silly meme, however, would raise the bar for paranoid border defense to an absurd new level.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
25 June 2025
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TikTok is full of viral paranoid suggestions for ways to test your relationship and ludicrous theories about the One Way to know if any relationship will work.—
Jia Tolentino,
New Yorker,
23 June 2025
Adjective
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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
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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
Adjective
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Zombieland makes its post-apocalyptic setting, where the undead lurk around every corner, look like a pretty fun hang, following Jesse Eisenberg's neurotic Columbus and his traveling companions (Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin) as they road-trip across the country seeking refuge.—
James Grebey,
Time,
20 June 2025
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Small dogs were also found to be the most neurotic breeds while the extremely large dogs were exceedingly stable.—
Mark Davis,
Newsweek,
14 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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By Robert Kagan The current debate over bombing Iran is surreal.—
Robert Kagan,
The Atlantic,
21 June 2025
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Each puzzle piece features a surreal image, difficult to decipher.—
Joan MacDonald,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
Adjective
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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
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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
Adjective
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Some will retreat from public life, spurning those closest to them in favor of an imaginary narrative woven with these programs.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
22 June 2025
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Since its inception, astronomers had busied themselves tracking the apparent movements of the stars, moon and planets relative to an imaginary line running north to south through the observatory, known as a 'meridian'.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
22 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Delusional.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/delusional. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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