illusion

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A false idea or belief about something.

   He still has the illusion that the team will win the championship.

2. 2
   noun

   Something that appears to be real but is not.

   We saw what looked like a tiger among the trees, but it was an illusion caused by the shadows.

3. 3
   noun

   A trick that makes you see something that isn't really there, as performed by a magician.

   The magician's most famous illusion made a car vanish from the stage.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Illusion came through Old French from Latin illudere, meaning “mock, ridicule, or make sport of,” formed from in- “against” and ludere “play.” Its earliest English sense was “deception” or “an attempt to fool”; the now common sense “false idea or belief” arose in the late 18th century.

From Old French illusion, from Latin illūsiō, from illūdere, from in- (“at, upon”) + lūdere (“to play, mock, trick”). Displaced native Old English dwimmer.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary