optical illusion

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See synonyms for optical illusion on Thesaurus.com

noun

See under illusion (def. 4).

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Origin of optical illusion

First recorded in 1785–95

Words nearby optical illusion

optical effects, optical fiber, optical fibre, optical flint, optical glass, optical illusion, optical isomer, optical isomerism, optical mark reading, optical maser, optical microscope

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use optical illusion in a sentence

When it came, the effect was instantly disorienting, like switching between images in an optical illusion.
What would it be like to be a conscious AI? We might never know.|Will Douglas Heaven|August 25, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Seth takes the reader through a fun litany of optical illusions and demonstrations, some quite familiar and others less so.
Our brains exist in a state of “controlled hallucination”|Matthew Hutson|August 25, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Add that to the theory that various forms of life travel across the universe through asteroids and other debris, and you have a hypothesis more credible than distant sightings by pilots that could be explained in part by optical illusions.
Are Aliens Already Here?|Josefina Salomon|August 2, 2021|Ozy
One of the areas of cultural study that first hooked her had to do with optical illusions.
The U.S. Is Just Different — So Let’s Stop Pretending We’re Not (Ep. 469)|Stephen J. Dubner|July 15, 2021|Freakonomics

Leaning at a seemingly unsustainable angle, Menashe Kadishman’s “Suspended” is a clever optical illusion that made me feel it was paused in time, but it could come crashing down if I hit the proverbial play button.
The Hudson Valley’s outdoor art parks make for an alluring pandemic destination|Nevin Martell|April 23, 2021|Washington Post
Its 8-megapixel camera, inclusive of true-tone and dual-LED f/2.2 aperture flashes, features optical image stabilization.
Why Every Home Needs a Drone This Holiday|Charlie Gilbert|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Traditional coach seats gave the illusion of comfortable padding but were angular, not reflecting body shapes.
Flying Coach Is the New Hell: How Airlines Engineer You Out of Room|Clive Irving|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And we are under no illusion that this state of affairs is confined to one battalion.
Corruption Eats Away at Ukraine Military|Charles McPhedran|October 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You said, “freedom of speech is an illusion” and “freedom of assembly is an illusion.”
Julian Casablancas Enters the Void: On the Strokes’ Friction, Why He Left NYC, and Starting Over|Marlow Stern|October 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Democracy is an illusion, freedom of speech is an illusion, freedom of assembly is an illusion.
Julian Casablancas Enters the Void: On the Strokes’ Friction, Why He Left NYC, and Starting Over|Marlow Stern|October 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But the growing crops are too cleanly and carefully weeded and too uniformly good to protract the illusion.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
All this I admit to be the fever of the mind—a waking dream—an illusion to which mesmerism or magic is but a frivolity.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
The burning atmosphere, the motionless air caused doubtless the optical illusion.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
Nor wilt thou rest forever, weary heart.The last illusion is destroyed,That I eternal thought.
The Poems of Giacomo Leopardi|Giacomo Leopardi
From the first entrance, to the last cry of triumph or despair, the illusion was perfect.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky|Modeste Tchaikovsky

British Dictionary definitions for optical illusion

optical illusion

noun

an object causing a false visual impression

an instance of deception by such an object

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

optical illusion

Origin of optical illusion

Words nearby optical illusion

Words related to optical illusion

How to use optical illusion in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for optical illusion