hallucination
[huh-loo-suh-ney-shuh n]
- a sensory experience of something that does not exist outside the mind, caused by various physical and mental disorders, or by reaction to certain toxic substances, and usually manifested as visual or auditory images.
- the sensation caused by a hallucinatory condition or the object or scene visualized.
- a false notion, belief, or impression; illusion; delusion.
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Origin of hallucination
1640–50; < Latin hallūcinātiōn- (stem of (h)allūcinātiō) a wandering of the mind. See hallucinate, -ion
Synonyms
See more synonyms for hallucination on Thesaurus.com1. phantasm, aberration. See illusion.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hallucination
Contemporary Examples
How can we taxonomize their experience, and differentiate it from hallucination, or psychotic break?
The hallucination is visually incoherent, either a rough approximation of text or a random assemblage of letters.
Knocking on Heaven's Door: True Stories of Unexplained, Uncanny Experiences at the Hour of DeathPatricia Pearson
August 11, 2014
It's confusing at times; what's real and what's a hallucination isn't always clear.
The whole thing is played completely straight, with no sign that it is a dream sequence, hallucination, or break from reality.
She even befriended a figure that may have been a hallucination or possibly an angel sent from heaven.
Historical Examples
Absolute equality is an hallucination of the hunger-fever, nothing more.
FreelandTheodor Hertzka
All at once, however, Claude fancied he was the victim of some hallucination.
His MasterpieceEmile Zola
He could not believe that Spurling had ever come; it was all an hallucination.
Murder PointConingsby Dawson
The simple matter is, dear madam, you have been under a hallucination all along.
When he saw her approaching he always had a moment of hallucination.
Within the TidesJoseph Conrad
hallucination
- the alleged perception of an object when no object is present, occurring under hypnosis, in some mental disorders, etc
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for hallucination
n.
in the pathological/psychological sense of "seeing or hearing something which is not there," 1640s, from Latin hallucinationem (nominative hallucinatio), from past participle stem of hallucinari (see hallucinate). Hallucination is distinct from illusion in not necessarily involving a false belief. Related: Hallucinations.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
hallucination
(hə-lōō′sə-nā′shən)- False or distorted perception of objects or events with a compelling sense of their reality, usually resulting from a mental disorder or drug.
- The objects or events so perceived.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
hallucination
A false perception that appears to be real, as when, for example, a man dying of thirst in a desert thinks that he sees a lake. (See also delusion.)
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.