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illusory

[ih-loo-suh-ree, -zuh-]

Origin

adjective

causing illusion; deceptive; misleading.

of the nature of an illusion; unreal.

Origin:
1590–1600; < Late Latin illūsōrius, equivalent to illūd(ere) to mock, ridicule (see illusion) + -tōrius -tory¹

Related forms

il·lu·so·ri·ly, adverb

il·lu·so·ri·ness, noun

un·il·lu·so·ry, adjective

Can be confused: elusive, illusory.

Synonyms
1. fallacious, specious, false. 2. imaginary; visionary, fancied.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Illusory is always a great word to know.

So is gobo. Does it mean:

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

illusory or illusive (ɪˈluːsərɪ, ɪˈluːsɪv)

—*adj*
	producing, produced by, or based on illusion; deceptive or unreal

usage Illusive is sometimes wrongly used where elusive is meant: they fought hard, but victory remained elusive (not illusive)

illusive or illusive

—*adj*

usage Illusive is sometimes wrongly used where elusive is meant: they fought hard, but victory remained elusive (not illusive)

il'lusorily or illusive

—*adv*

il'lusively or illusive

—*adv*

il'lusoriness or illusive

—n

il'lusiveness or illusive

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

illusory

1590s, from Fr. illusorie, from L.L. illusorius "of a mocking character," from L. illudere "mock at," lit. "to play with," from in- "at" + ludere "to play" (see ludicrous).

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essence fanciful fatuous fool's paradise illusive mirage

Matching Quote

"At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of these trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we had clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise ... that denseness and that strangeness of the world is absurd."

-Albert Camus

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