illusory

English

Borrowed from Middle French illusorie (modern French illusoire), derived from Latin illūsōrius (“mocking, ironical”).

enPR: ĭ-lo͞o′sə-rē, -zə-rē
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈluː.sə.ɹiː/, /-zə.ɹiː/
- Audio (Southern England); /-sə.ɹiː/: (file)
- Audio (Southern England); /-zə.ɹiː/: (file)
(General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlu.sə.ɹi/, /-zə.ɹi/
(General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlʉː.sə.ɹiː/, /-zə.ɹiː/
(New Zealand) IPA^(key): /əˈlʉː.sə.ɹiː/, /-zə.ɹiː/
(Scotland) IPA^(key): /ɪˈlʉ.sə.ɹi/, /-zə.ɹi/
(India) IPA^(key): /iˈluː.so.ɾiː/, /-zo.ɾiː/
Rhymes: -uːsəɹiː, -uːzəɹiː
Hyphenation: il‧lu‧so‧ry

illusory (comparative more illusory, superlative most illusory)

Resulting from an illusion; deceptive, imaginary, unreal.
- 1973, Jadunath Sinha, A History of Indian Philosophy, volume 4, page 174:
  The invalidity of a cognition is the otherwiseness of its object, and is known by a sublating cognition. The illusory cognition of silver knows illusory silver, but does not know its otherwiseness.
- 2025 April 24, Anna Silman, “Now comes the ‘womanosphere’: the anti-feminist media telling women to be thin, fertile and Republican”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:
  Yet for this new womanosphere, the response is not advancing policies like paid family leave or affordable childcare, but to return to an idealized, illusory past where being a wife and mother was viewed as a woman’s sole purpose.

resulting from an illusion