adjective
Usage
Illusive is sometimes wrongly used where elusive is meant: they fought hard, but victory remained elusive (not illusive )
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of illusory
1590–1600; < Late Latin illūsōrius, equivalent to illūd ( ere ) to mock, ridicule ( see illusion) + -tōrius -tory 1
Explanation
If something is based on something that is not real, you can say it is illusory. Tales of seeing Elvis and Big Foot eating together at McDonalds are probably based on an illusory experience. Although the adjective illusory can describe anything that's based on an illusion, it often has the negative connotation of being deliberately deceptive. Like a bogus investment scheme that seems to make money for investors: any real profits are totally illusory. Or the illusory claims that fad diets work — they only work while you're on the diet, and no one can survive on cabbage soup forever.
Vocabulary lists containing illusory
"Magic and the Brain," Vocabulary from the magazine article
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Holi Festival
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Orphan Train
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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.
The apparently illusory swings show the difficulty of accurately counting homeless people in the expanse of north Los Angeles County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
He added he intended to "retire" and would not seek to "influence" his successor, but said that "it is illusory to think that one can fade into the background".
From Barron's ● Apr. 12, 2026
The tax would even be levied on illusory assets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
And even that 600,000 gain last year could prove illusory once the government updates the data to be more accurate.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 30, 2026
It was not that Lowell’s eye had strung up disconnected fine detail on the Martian surface into illusory straight lines.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
