HALLUCINATORY Synonyms: 74 Similar and Opposite Words

hallucinatory

adjective

Definition of hallucinatory

as in surreal

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Example Sentences

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 In Bettmann Panopticon, which opened to the public in 1964 at the School of Visual Arts Visual Arts Gallery, Max and Daly had taken images from the archive and mirrored them for a hallucinatory effect. — Hikmat Mohammed, ARTnews.com, 17 Sep. 2026 After the attack, his witty, vulnerable voice holds together a chaotic and increasingly hallucinatory downward slide. — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026 That wouldn’t have left time for the psychotic, hallucinatory state to begin and for the voices in Clancy’s head to kick in and tell her to kill the children and carry out the suicide attempt, as the defense team has contended, Sprague said. — Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 27 Aug. 2026 For Prosper Insights & Analytics Both executives and employees listed the top two concerns being the need for human oversight and inaccurate or hallucinatory outputs. — Gary Drenik, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for hallucinatory

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hallucinatory

Adjective

As production moved forward, Yamazaki repeatedly urged his collaborators to put the surreal experience of Minus One behind them.

— Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 5 Nov. 2026
Already, the past few days felt like a surreal (and very sweaty) fever dream.

— Liam Hess, Vogue, 5 Nov. 2026

Definition of surreal

Adjective

The nightmare of Lynch’s film is that the road’s linearity—and, by extension, our own linearity—is as illusory as its—and our—freedom.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 Oct. 2026
Thomas drives away with a limp, malfunctioning Vision next to him, and an illusory, wisecracking Ultron in the back seat.

— Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 14 Oct. 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

The film was a vision of the future refracted through an imaginary past.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 Oct. 2026
The elimination of the imaginary Kong Mountains and knowledge of a shorter travel distance through the dense tropical forest accelerated French colonization of the region.

— Thomas J Bassett, The Conversation, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of imaginary

Adjective

No matter how delusional and disconnected from sanity that worldview might be.

— Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2026
Mental health experts have voiced concerns about chatbots’ sycophancy, lack of clinical nuance, and ability to reinforce delusional beliefs.

— Andrew R. Chow, Time, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of delusional

Adjective

This Lincolnian view of the war—that the United States was perpetual and that the Confederate States of America was a fictitious, farcical nation—has led to various historical interpretations ever since, among historians and laypeople alike.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 Oct. 2026
The series will be set in a fictitious Barneys in Beverly Hills, not New York, and the real founding family of the retailer, the Pressman family, has no involvement, the spokesperson said.

— Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of fictitious

Adjective

The path of the 2027 total solar eclipse will cross southern Tunisia, where several locations were used to bring the fictional desert planet Tatooine to life.

— Jamie Carter, Space.com, 4 Nov. 2026
The books are based in the fictional, haunted, historic lakeside town of Wharton; Season 1 of the series will adapt Webb’s book The End of Temperance Dare.

— Matt Grobar, Deadline, 3 Nov. 2026

Definition of fictional

Browse Nearby Words

hallucinations

hallucinatory

hallucinoses

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“Hallucinatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hallucinatory. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of hallucinatory

adjective

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