illusive

Examples

• All

• Mental illness, it's such an illusive thing, and although I'm... I'm pleased that you're feeling more capable, I think perhaps it's unrealistic to think you could be cured in so short a time.

  Frances (1982)

• I also do not mean that you wallow in illusive ideas that make no sense, hoping beyond hope that they work out without your participation.

  Blog text (11)

• My own close friends disagree with all of these and are happy with the illusive wonders of the world.

  Blog text (11)

• Balance: An illusive ideal.

  Academic text (2007)

• Ignore the illusive pile of "compassion" liberals try to sell in times of need.

  Blog text (5)

• Nearly all the women we interviewed said that the balance they had achieved (even if somewhat illusive) would not have been possible were they faculty members at a 4-year institution.

  Academic text (2007)

• They are connected by powerful postmodern themes: the entanglement of mind and world; a rejection of big theories and the objective gaze; a distrust of the politics of single narratives and the illusive pursuit of certainty and progress.

  Academic text (2001)

• The magician's tricks are often illusive, leaving the audience questioning what was real.

• His description of the event was illusive, making it difficult to get a clear understanding of what happened.

Synonyms

F

false

vsillusive

263 2.8

Not real and made to trick people

adds an extra sense of seeming unreal, like a deceptive vision

P

phony

vsillusive

• Informal

220 5.3

Trying to seem real to deceive people

is less about mere fakery and more about seeming unreal or dreamlike

M

misleading

vsillusive

148 4.4

Giving a wrong idea that makes people believe false things

adds a quality of seeming unreal or illusory to that misdirection

D

deceptive

vsillusive

62 5.3

Appearing true but making someone believe something that is not true

carries extra sense of seeming unreal or dreamlike when misleading

I

illusory

vsillusive

12 7.0

Seeming to be real but not really there

leans more toward intentional deception rather than mere unreality

I

inauthentic

vsillusive

6 6.6

Not real and not what it looks like

focuses more on illusory, dreamlike quality rather than simple falseness

I

illusionary

vsillusive

2 7.7

Appearing real but trying to trick your mind

focuses more on being misleading itself than just sensory trickery

D

delusionary

vsillusive

1 8.0

Giving a false idea that something is true

is more about appearing unreal to the senses rather than belief error

M

misrepresentative

vsillusive

1 8.3

To give a wrong idea of the real situation

is more about seeming unreal than simply presenting inaccurate facts

I

illusional

vsillusive

1 9.4

Appearing real when it is not

is more about deceiving by seeming unreal rather than only creating effects

D

delusive

vsillusive

1 8.1

Making something seem true when it is not

adds the sense of unreal appearance as if like a trick

D

delusory

vsillusive

1 9.1

Giving a false idea that makes people believe something untrue

stresses unreal, illusion-like quality rather than only false belief

I

illusionistic

vsillusive

1 8.4

That makes something look real or three-dimensional when it is not

is broader, applying to deception in general not only visual art

E

eye-deceiving

vsillusive

8.8

A visual effect that makes a picture or object look real when it is not

covers both visual trickery and nonvisual forms of seeming unreal

Antonyms

T

truthful

121 1.3

Always saying what really happened and not lying

How Illusory

hallucinatory

5 8.8

illusive

1 8.2

deceptive

62 5.3

real

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology