adjective
Usage
Illusive is sometimes wrongly used where elusive is meant: they fought hard, but victory remained elusive (not illusive )
Other Word Forms
- illusorily adverb
- illusoriness noun
- unillusory adjective
Etymology
Origin of illusory
1590–1600; < Late Latin illūsōrius, equivalent to illūd ( ere ) to mock, ridicule ( 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.
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 market response to his April 2025 “liberation” tariffs was so negative that the President quickly withdrew them and negotiated lower tariffs as part of “trade deals” that may turn out to be partly illusory.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 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
We eagerly drink in the discord because the stakes are illusory, even if the high-strung emotions turn out to be real.
From Salon • Jan. 28, 2026
We, or at any rate I, had built such elaborate fantasies about him and the illusory mother that seeing him in the flesh shredded my inventions like a hard yank on a paper chain.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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.
