HALLUCINATORY Synonyms: 74 Similar and Opposite Words

hallucinatory

adjective

Definition of hallucinatory

as in surreal

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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 hallucinatory 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 Unlike Magazine Dreams, the modest but satisfying Test avoids the lurid descent into violent psychodrama that swerved into hallucinatory Taxi Driver territory and undercut that film’s integrity. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 June 2026 What results is a hallucinatory exploration of power, control, desire, and — that hottest of fascinated feelings right now — obsession. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 3 June 2026 Some of the poet’s most hallucinatory imagery seeps through the corners of the screen. — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 2 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for hallucinatory

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hallucinatory

Adjective

The Hanna-Barbera cat and mouse — formerly a throwaway bunch of cartoons, now a ‘franchise’ — are all about triflingly menial disputes taken to absurd heights, leading to surreal sight gags and baroque violence.

— Caspar Salmon, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026
The issue lingered late into the week, including the surreal spectacle of the SEC battling LSU in multiple courtrooms.

— ABC News, ABC News, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of surreal

Adjective

Over the course of one phantasmagoric evening, Robin witnesses events that prefigure the Revolutionary War.

— John Swansburg, The Atlantic, 15 June 2026
Right around that time, the Venice Film Festival saw Mamoru Hosoda’s anime epic Scarlet, in which the Danish prince became an ass-kicking Danish princess consigned to a hellish and phantasmagoric underworld.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2026

Definition of phantasmagoric

Adjective

The apparently illusory swings show the difficulty of accurately counting homeless people in the expanse of north Los Angeles County.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2026
Until there is agreement on which share count and which components of enterprise value belong in these calculations, comparability across companies is illusory, and the sector now includes well over a hundred public issuers of very different sizes.

— Sean Stein Smith, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of illusory

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

Almost every great performer is at some point in their life delusional.

— Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2026
In February, Patrick Collison told TBPN there was a reasonable chance Q1 2026 would be remembered as the first quarter of the singularity, adding that in hindsight the claim might look completely delusional.

— Josipa Majic Predin, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of delusional

Adjective

The April indictment accused the organization of secretly funneling millions of dollars in donor funds to informants embedded in violent extremist movements, using bank accounts opened for fictitious companies.

— Arie Perliger, The Conversation, 31 Aug. 2026
The inaugural Ig Nobel Prize ceremony honored three fictitious achievers; all recipients in subsequent years (barring a 1994 award based on inaccurate reporting) have been real people.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of fictitious

Adjective

In the footage, players follow the story of Jason and Lucia, a couple living in the fictional Vice City, who are picking up drugs, and their mission is thwarted by the police, who begin to raid the place.

— Moises Mendez II, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026
Claire Foy will also star in the film, playing a fictional reporter of The Sun that acts as a composite of various female reporters of the time period.

— Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of fictional

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hallucinations

hallucinatory

hallucinoses

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“Hallucinatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hallucinatory. Accessed 9 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of hallucinatory

adjective

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