ignis fatuus

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 ignis fatuus Several sources say ignis fatuus, a spark of swamp gas, is the likely cause of the strange light. Fox News, 3 Mar. 2023 The story also helped explain ignis fatuus, a natural phenomenon that occurs in marshlands and bogs—such as those in Ireland’s countryside—producing flickering lights as gases from decomposing organic matter combust. National Geographic, 27 Oct. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ignis fatuus
Noun
  • The Twins right-hander was probably a pipe dream all along, but there were reports connecting the Red Sox and Twins.
    Mike Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 July 2025
  • One group, the Partnership for New York City, which represents a group of nearly 300 CEOs, said many of Mamdani’s proposals are pipe dreams.
    Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 25 June 2025
Noun
  • Boiled peanuts are like a mirage in a desert, pulling in with nostalgia and mouthwatering saltiness.
    Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 7 June 2025
  • To complete the mirage, the menu here offers dishes cooked on open flames.
    Nina-Sophia Miralles, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025
Noun
  • Hun Sen has constructed an implausible composite regime, a kind of political chimera.
    Stéphanie Giry, Foreign Affairs, 2 Sep. 2015
  • Chasing this chimera occupied Coronado until the early part of 1542.
    Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
Noun
  • And a special shout-out goes to SNL’s Vanessa Bayer as the hilarious medium with impeccable timing and detailed delusion.
    Katie Grant, Parents, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Marroquin, who had been jailed on assault and battery charges, struggled with mental illness and persistent delusions that someone was going to hurt his mother.
    Kelly Davis, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • For Leader, this hammers home the unreality of a studio without an intense marketing machine around it.
    Ryan Gaur, IndieWire, 10 June 2025
  • The title is the latest from Naughty Dog, a studio with a reputation for games that aspire to the aesthetics and prestige of cinema, with memorable characters that behave realistically despite the unreality of video games.
    Joshua Rivera, Vulture, 21 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Your recurring daydream of spending unending hours splayed out on the beach should take place right here, on the beaches of Isla Verde, located on the edge of San Juan.
    Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 26 July 2025
  • After stealing a security guard’s gun (and his wife’s Lorazepam), the mentally unwell husband and father contemplates some violent solutions to his problem during a couple of vivid daydream sequences.
    Glenn Garner, Deadline, 26 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Like the film that inspired it, the book circles intimacy, illusion, blondes and brunettes, the psychic architecture of Los Angeles.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2025
  • Choose temporary discomfort over living in illusion.
    Meghan Rose, Glamour, 1 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Ignis fatuus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ignis%20fatuus. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.

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