as in misleading
tending or having power to deceive
delusive promises of high-paying jobs for low-skilled workers
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Recent Examples of delusive
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, 5 July 2022
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Much of formal education over the past 50 years or so, especially in the humanities, has become a delusive exercise in mass evasion of this discomfiting truth.
—Tracy Lee Simmons, National Review, 15 Oct. 2020
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, 5 July 2022
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Many less attractive traits are also recorded: Charles could be uncommunicative and dilatory, evasive and mendacious, refractory, vindictive, obstinate, even outright wicked, though self-delusive about the motives of others.
—R.j.w. Evans, The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2020
Much of formal education over the past 50 years or so, especially in the humanities, has become a delusive exercise in mass evasion of this discomfiting truth.
—Tracy Lee Simmons, National Review, 15 Oct. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for delusive
Adjective
-
In the 1970s, information about the Tuskegee study – a deceptive and unethical 40-year study of untreated syphilis in Black men – came to light.—
Christine Coughlin,
The Conversation,
9 May 2025
-
Anyone wanting to fight such usage would have to rely on deceptive practice laws, trademark and copyright protection, and state-specific laws protecting a person's name, image, and likeness.—
Neil J. Rubenking,
PC Magazine,
2 May 2025
Adjective
-
Uncanny valley is a term for a reason: The brain can only take so much false information that’s appears to be real.—
Kate Aurthur,
Variety,
5 May 2025
-
Beach furniture and other recreational equipment (e.g., cabanas, umbrellas, canoes, small boats, bicycles) can reduce nesting success and increase false crawls on nesting beaches when left out overnight.—
Lexie Beach,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Delusive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/delusive. Accessed 20 May. 2025.
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