ignis fatuus
Americannoun
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ignes fatui
plural
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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.
Now, let the reader examine and study these definitions of Liberty by Paley, Montesquieu and Blackstone, and he will see that they are in pursuit of an ignis fatuus that eludes their grasp.
From Cannibals all! or, Slaves without masters by George Fitzhugh
He paused, leaning on the yoke, his dreary eyes still on the ignis fatuus of the woods.
From The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains by Mary Noailles Murfree
It flashed through his mind that he had wasted two months pursuing an ignis fatuus, only to have nothing but bitterness at the end, when it might have been ——!
From Six Prize Hawaiian Stories of the Kilohana Art League by W. N. Armstrong
Blinded by his ill-starred idolatry, he had abandoned even the dignity of concealing it; and followed his ignis fatuus about—constantly forcing his company upon her in a manner that rendered him ridiculous.
From The Finger of Fate A Romance by Mayne Reid
Are we following an ignis fatuus in setting it up as the panacea for the defects of our communities?
From Problems in Greek history by John Pentland Mahaffy
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.
