as in pipe dream
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Recent Examples of ignis fatuus
Unveiling ignis fatuus: Microlightning between microbubbles.
—
Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
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
Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
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
-
Expecting it to be now seems like a pipe dream.—
Jace Frederick,
Twin Cities,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Dozens of companies are now competing to make the world’s first viable humanoid robot, convinced that recent advances in AI have made what was once a pipe dream into achievable reality.—
Billy Perrigo,
Time,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Florida State’s season-opening rout of Alabama has become this season’s biggest mirage.—
Stewart Mandel,
New York Times,
19 Oct. 2025
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Then, imagine those color-changing mountains reflected in the briny water of desert salt flats, a mirage that ripples when local flamingos fly by in twos and threes.—
Laura Dannen Redman,
Robb Report,
16 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The standard choices presented to us—reason versus superstition, progress versus barbarism, past versus future, space versus Earth, growth versus stasis—were always chimeras.—
Paul Kingsnorth,
Harpers Magazine,
19 Sep. 2025
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The chimera appear to float toward a star, as if drawn into -- or perhaps emerging from -- another plane of existence.—
Natasha Gural,
Forbes.com,
1 Aug. 2025
Noun
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As the guitar-strumming will-o'-the-wisp Maria von Trapp, Julie Andrews taught us a few of her favorite things.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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With the excitement and delusion of Humbert Humbert imposing a purple-prose narrative on his pedophilic assumptions, Hank speaks of his former student like a James Dean figure — beautiful, brooding and quietly intelligent.—
Jourdain Searles,
HollywoodReporter,
28 Oct. 2025
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In Pisces, the taskmaster teaches us how to dream without delusion, and how to love without losing ourselves in the process.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The cringing mortifications and unsettling unreality make the series a tough sit.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Oct. 2025
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Longtime Vogue readers can likely recognize Steven Klein’s photographs at a glance, what with their glaring colors, arresting compositions, and beguiling sense of unreality.—
Vogue,
Vogue,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In pieces on patriotism as a kind of madness, on the long history of Polish and Russian colonizations and cultural appropriations of Ukraine, on the ways communities fantasize and share their daydreams, and others, Janion creates wormholes between past and present.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Oct. 2025
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Weston Cloud Modular Sectional Sofa Sinking into cloud-like comfort is no longer a far-off daydream: The Weston Cloud Sofa's plush cushions provide a lavish experience ideal for relaxing after a long day.—
Elizabeth Fogarty,
Better Homes & Gardens,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The video gives the illusion that the plane is cutting straight through the colorful arcs.—
Soo Kim,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
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That illusion was shattered Thursday when gambling and sports rigging schemes linked to the mob led to the arrests of 31 defendants, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, Damon Jones.—
Alaa Elassar,
CNN Money,
24 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ignis fatuus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ignis%20fatuus. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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