pareidolia

American  

[pair-ahy-doh-lee-uh, pair-uh-] / ˌpɛər aɪˈdoʊ li ə, ˌpɛər ə- /

noun

1. the illusory perception of meaningful patterns or images of familiar things in random or amorphous data, as a face seen on the moon.

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pareidolia British  

/ ˌpæraɪˈdəʊlɪə /

noun

1. the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in considering the moon to have human features

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Etymology

Origin of pareidolia

First recorded in 1960–65; from German Pareidolien, plural of Pareidolie, equivalent to par(a)- ¹ ( def. ) + eidol(on) ( def. ) + -ia ( def. ), reinterpreted as a singular noun

Example Sentences

Did you know that the phenomenon of seeing shapes and figures in our surroundings is called pareidolia.

From Space Scoop

The human propensity to see familiar objects in ambiguous patterns is called pareidolia.

From Scientific American

While some of the Gaylor arguments have a surprising amount of persuasive force, others are probably more reflective of pareidolia, the human ability to make patterns and meaning out of randomness.

From Salon

“The hypothesis of a map is based on a pareidolia,” she said, meaning the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on an ambiguous visual pattern.

From New York Times

The things represented in Cézanne’s paintings function much more like clouds and pareidolia than they do photographs of actual things.

From Washington Post