as in illusory
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Recent Examples of fictive
The history bestows legitimacy, which is destabilized because so much of the history is fictive.
—
Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025
Populism ignores very real and differentiated social problems and cuts across them with a fictive target, a target that simultaneously satisfies all, and none, of these problems.
—Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Newsweek, 4 Feb. 2025
The curator, Reid Byers, presents 100 books — unfinished, fictive (books existing in other novels and dramas) and lost — painstakingly created and recreated.
—New York Times, 25 Jan. 2025
Then there are the books that are fictive, existing only within other books.
—Ella Feldman, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for fictive
Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025
Populism ignores very real and differentiated social problems and cuts across them with a fictive target, a target that simultaneously satisfies all, and none, of these problems.
—Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Newsweek, 4 Feb. 2025
The curator, Reid Byers, presents 100 books — unfinished, fictive (books existing in other novels and dramas) and lost — painstakingly created and recreated.
—New York Times, 25 Jan. 2025
Then there are the books that are fictive, existing only within other books.
—Ella Feldman, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for fictive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fictive
Adjective
-
Put another way, the self can be both illusory and real, or real enough.—
Michael Pollan,
The Atlantic,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Growth has been weak and illusory.—
Ariel Cohen,
Forbes.com,
21 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Today, the public district collection comprises some 35 large-scale murals, sculptures and installations, including the phantasmagoric exterior of its Museum Garage.—
Andres Viglucci,
Miami Herald,
30 Nov. 2025
-
The Land of Spooks is a phantasmagorical blend of twisting gothic spires, impossible land formations, and disconcerting expressionist proportions.—
Kambole Campbell,
IndieWire,
4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
The script leans heavily on exposition — internal monologues, disembodied intercom voices, and hallucinatory flashbacks — to communicate lore that might have resonated more powerfully through action or environment.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
29 Jan. 2026
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Its first big splash came at the Venice Film Festival in 2023 with AGGRO DR1FT, an 80-minute, Travis Scott–co-starring fever dream shot entirely through thermal lenses and built to feel less like a movie than a game-like, hallucinatory experience.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Jan. 2026
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
Adjective
-
Sometimes, space is tight in a home, though, and typical storage options like drawers, cabinets, and linen closets are limited or nonexistent.—
Rebecca Jones,
Southern Living,
1 Feb. 2026
-
Ugreen Airplane Phone Holder If the in-flight entertainment is nonexistent—or just not doing it for you—this airplane phone holder is a total VIP move.—
Chaise Sanders,
Travel + Leisure,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Locked doors, bloody bits in trunks, deceptive lovers with ill intentions.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
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Even one of the more reputable internet weather personalities, Ryan Hall, whose YouTube channel staffs a team of meteorologists, and who has more than three million subscribers, often opts for flashy graphics and deceptive provocations to increase engagement.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
28 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Accept everything that comes after — the blow to the face as Suggs flailed at the ball, the roar from the United Center as the ball crushed through the rim, the feigned disbelief of his teammates on the bench who have seen this all too many times before.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
4 Jan. 2026
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Spare me the feigned outrage, Feeny.—
Raechal Shewfelt,
Entertainment Weekly,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The relentless news coverage was inevitably going to trigger people with delusional psychoses or inspire those with schemes for cash or fame.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Jan. 2026
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Coalitional parties do make governing harder, but the same factions that frustrate also guard against delusional thinking that leads to devastating losses.—
Chris Stirewalt,
The Hill,
27 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fictive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fictive. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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