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
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
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for delusive
Adjective
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Alas, the misleading, cold-in-the-morning, warm-at-night weather has finally arrived.—
Julia Morlino,
Travel + Leisure,
15 Mar. 2026
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Despite the backlash, DeRosa has insisted the criticism has created misleading narratives about his handling of the team and his understanding of the tournament format.—
Jackson Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
14 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Erin Lee Opponents, however, call the measure extreme and its language deceptive.—
Austen Erblat,
CBS News,
18 Mar. 2026
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Centers' growing power Previous efforts in California, Colorado and Vermont to regulate crisis pregnancy centers arose from concerns over allegations of deceptive and misleading practices and questions about patient data privacy.—
Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez,
NPR,
18 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Chapman is charged with making a false statement during a firearm purchase and engaging in the business of firearms dealing without a license.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Mar. 2026
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Thomas Edward Manfredi, 33, is charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury and making a false police report, according to an arrest warrant.—
Shira Moolten,
Sun Sentinel,
13 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Delusive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/delusive. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.
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