as in daydreams
something that comes from or exists only in the mind and is not real
He thought he saw water up ahead but it was just a mirage.
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Recent Examples of mirages
The film opens with real mirages filmed near Aswan in Egypt, where atmospheric conditions produce optical distortions.
—
Lise Pedersen, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
Multimodal models see ‘mirages’ This past week has brought yet more evidence of how weird these models are.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 31 Mar. 2026
Bat away mirages and stick to what’s really in your viewfinder.
—Magi Helena, Dallas Morning News, 16 Feb. 2026
At the frontier edge of astronomy, tantalizing new observations have a tendency to be mirages.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 24 Sep. 2025
But inside, slabs of colored glass, hunks of polished resin, and sundry material experiments gleam like mirages in the sunlight that streams in from the ceiling and windows.
—Hannah Martin, Architectural Digest, 4 Sep. 2025
The Great Plain stretches beneath poetic skies where herds graze and mirages dance—while thermal springs bubble in ornate bathhouses like Széchenyi—their steam rising through vaulted ceilings.
—Lewis Nunn, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Lise Pedersen, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
Multimodal models see ‘mirages’ This past week has brought yet more evidence of how weird these models are.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 31 Mar. 2026
Bat away mirages and stick to what’s really in your viewfinder.
—Magi Helena, Dallas Morning News, 16 Feb. 2026
At the frontier edge of astronomy, tantalizing new observations have a tendency to be mirages.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 24 Sep. 2025
But inside, slabs of colored glass, hunks of polished resin, and sundry material experiments gleam like mirages in the sunlight that streams in from the ceiling and windows.
—Hannah Martin, Architectural Digest, 4 Sep. 2025
The Great Plain stretches beneath poetic skies where herds graze and mirages dance—while thermal springs bubble in ornate bathhouses like Széchenyi—their steam rising through vaulted ceilings.
—Lewis Nunn, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mirages
Noun
-
Nina, Karen and Caroline started appearing in my daydreams, full of vigor and life lessons.—
Jennifer Acker,
PEOPLE,
8 May 2026
-
Some stories plant deep in your creative brain and come out through songs heard on the radio and random daydreams in the shower.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 May 2026
Noun
-
Around him, siblings, lovers and friends face CIA threats, tourist-rental anxieties, drug-dealing producers, secret desire and lottery dreams in a choral portrait of love, family and frustrated escape.—
Callum McLennan,
Variety,
11 May 2026
-
Each gets stage time to speak at length about their dreams, both realized and broken, and regrets.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
11 May 2026
Noun
-
Their shared trip gradually turns into a confrontation with their own lives, relationships and visions of the future.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
6 May 2026
-
There are many competing visions of how technology and military strategy should be combined in the Gulf’s waters, some of which cross into the bizarre.—
Mohammed Sergie,
semafor.com,
4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mirages.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mirages. Accessed 13 May. 2026.
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