hallucination

C2+ Topic:Psychology & Behavior

US /həˌluːsəˈneɪʃən/ UK /həˌluːsɪˈneɪʃən/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a perception of something not actually present, often from illness or drugs

The fever brought on vivid hallucinations of voices in the empty room.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a perception of something... delusion mirage apparition illusion phantasm vision fantasy

Opposites

reality

Word family

Related forms hallucinatehallucinatoryhallucinogen

Simplified etymology

Hallucination entered English in the early 17th century from Latin hallucinari, “to go astray in thought.” The Latin verb is traced to Greek alussein, meaning “to be uneasy or distraught.”

Etymology

From Latin hallūcinātiō, hallūcinātiōnem ('a wandering of the mind'), from hallūcinārī ('to wander in mind, dream'), an alteration of ālūcinārī, perhaps influenced by Ancient Greek alýein ('to be distraught').

hallūcinārī Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Psychology & Behavior Health & Medicine Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# hallucination

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /həˌluːsəˈneɪʃən/
**IPA (UK):** /həˌluːsɪˈneɪʃən/

## Meanings
1. a perception of something not actually present, often from illness or drugs

## Examples
- The fever brought on vivid hallucinations of voices in the empty room.

## Synonyms
- delusion
- mirage
- apparition
- illusion
- phantasm
- vision
- fantasy

## Antonyms
- reality

## Related Forms
- hallucinate
- hallucinatory
- hallucinogen

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hallūcinārī

## Etymology
From Latin hallūcinātiō, hallūcinātiōnem ('a wandering of the mind'), from hallūcinārī ('to wander in mind, dream'), an alteration of ālūcinārī, perhaps influenced by Ancient Greek alýein ('to be distraught').

## AI Etymology
hallucination comes from Latin hallūcinātiō, hallūcinātiōnem ('a wandering of the mind'), from hallūcinārī ('to wander in mind, dream'), an alteration of ālūcinārī, perhaps influenced by Ancient Greek alýein ('to be distraught'). The form is also shaped by later English word-formation, since shortening, alteration, or polite substitution can be as important as direct inheritance. The etymology remains cautious where the history is cautious: comparisons, echoic formation, or disputed derivation do not make the ancestry more definite than the forms actually named. In present English, the noun sense is "a perception of something not actually present, often from illness or drugs", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as hallucinate, hallucinatory, and hallucinogen. Its semantic neighborhood includes delusion, mirage, apparition, and illusion, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin hallūcinārī.

## Topics
- Psychology & Behavior
- Health & Medicine
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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