Standard Lemma guide

illusory

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • ĭ-lo͞o′sə-rē
  • -zə-rē
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɪˈluː.sə.ɹiː/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-zə.ɹiː/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, General-American: /ɪˈlu.sə.ɹi/
  • Canada, General-American: /-zə.ɹi/
  • Australian: /ɪˈlʉː.sə.ɹiː/
  • Australian: /-zə.ɹiː/
  • New-Zealand: /əˈlʉː.sə.ɹiː/
  • New-Zealand: /-zə.ɹiː/
  • Scotland: /ɪˈlʉ.sə.ɹi/
  • Scotland: /-zə.ɹi/
  • rhymes with -uːsəɹiː
  • rhymes with -uːzəɹiː
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 L UW1 S ER0 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Resulting from an illusion; deceptive, imaginary, unreal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

based on or having the nature of an illusion

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • illusive hopes of finding a better job
  • Secret activities offer presidents the alluring but often illusory promise that they can achieve foreign policy goals without the bothersome debate and open decision that are staples of democracy

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: illusive

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: илюзорен (iljuzoren) — resulting from an illusion
  • Bulgarian: нереален (nerealen) — resulting from an illusion
  • Catalan: il·lusori — resulting from an illusion
  • Chinese Cantonese: 虛幻 /虚幻 (heoi1 waan6) — resulting from an illusion
  • Chinese: 虛幻 /虚幻 (hi-huàn) — resulting from an illusion
  • Chinese Mandarin: 虛幻 /虚幻 (xūhuàn) — resulting from an illusion
  • Czech: iluzorní — resulting from an illusion
  • Finnish: mielikuvituksellinen — resulting from an illusion
  • Finnish: harhainen — resulting from an illusion
  • French: illusoire — resulting from an illusion
  • Galician: ilusorio — resulting from an illusion
  • Georgian: ილუზორული (iluzoruli) — resulting from an illusion
  • German: illusorisch — resulting from an illusion
  • German: illusionär — resulting from an illusion
  • German: wirklichkeitsfremd — resulting from an illusion
  • Greek: απατηλός (apatilós) — resulting from an illusion
  • Hebrew: תַּעְתְּעָנִי — resulting from an illusion
  • Italian: illusorio — resulting from an illusion
  • Latin: illusorius — resulting from an illusion
  • Maltese: illużorju — resulting from an illusion
  • Norwegian Bokmål: illusorisk — resulting from an illusion
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: illusorisk — resulting from an illusion
  • Polish: iluzoryczny — resulting from an illusion
  • Portuguese: ilusório — resulting from an illusion
  • Romanian: iluzoriu — resulting from an illusion
  • Russian: иллюзо́рный (illjuzórnyj) — resulting from an illusion
  • Serbo-Croatian: и̏лузо̄ран — resulting from an illusion
  • Serbo-Croatian: ȉluzōran — resulting from an illusion
  • Spanish: ilusorio — resulting from an illusion
  • Swedish: illusorisk — resulting from an illusion
  • Swedish: skenbar — resulting from an illusion
  • Yiddish: אילוזאָריש (iluzorish) — resulting from an illusion