ignis fatuus
Americannoun
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Also called friar's lantern, will-o'-the-wisp. a flitting phosphorescent light seen at night, chiefly over marshy ground, and believed to be due to spontaneous combustion of gas from decomposed organic matter.
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something deluding or misleading.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ignis fatuus
1555–65; < Medieval Latin: literally, foolish fire
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
How malignantly must this strange ignis fatuus, thought he, dance into the nightly conflict of all these clashing relations!
From Titan: A Romance Vol. II (of 2) by Jean Paul
This misconception of their character would have led him wrong as often as the ignis fatuus.
From Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp Late a Lieut. in His Majesty's 87th Regiment by Shipp, John
Diogenes is not the only man whose disturbed digestion has led multitudes, like an ignis fatuus, into the bogs and marshes of falsehood.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851 by Various
Character, the vital principle of the individual, is the ignis fatuus of the mechanical biographer.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various
Still the ignis fatuus of a shorter route to India tantalized the early navigators.
From The Greater Republic A History of the United States by Morris, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
