Delude/Allude/Elude

illusion/delusion/allusion

* Blink and you'll miss it: an allusion is a quick indirect mention of something. It's a literary device that stimulates ideas, associations, and extra information in the reader's mind with only a word or two: Thomas Paine's writings contain several affectionate allusions to his father, but none to his mother. * Magicians love to create illusions, or visual tricks, like making a tiger disappear or sawing a person in half. Your eye can be fooled by an optical illusion, and Dorothy and the gang get to the bottom of the Wizard's illusion and discover he's just a regular guy. Illusions aren't always glamorous; sometimes they're just hiding the man behind the curtain: "We have no illusion that these credits are going to create lots of new jobs," the editorial said. * Delusions are like illusions but they're meaner. A delusion is a belief in something despite the fact that it's completely untrue. Hence the phrase is delusions of grandeur. People with delusions often wind up on the shrink's couch. Whether you are trying to deceive yourself or someone is trying to deceive you, if you believe the false idea, you have a delusion about reality: Delusions are closely allied to hallucinations and generally accompany the latter.

delusion

A delusion is a belief that has no evidence in fact — a complete illusion. The cook at the hot dog stand who thinks he is the best chef in the world? That opinion is definitely a delusion. * a mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea * the act of deluding; deception by creating illusory ideas

illusion

An illusion is something that isn't real. It may look real, but it's actually fake — just a crafty construction or fantasy. Like the old rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick practiced by magicians around the globe.

delude/elude

Delude means "to deceive," and there are times when someone can both delude and elude you — like when the conman took your money and then escaped out the back door.

delusions of grandeur (phrase)

Delusions of grandeur, which expresses the belief that unattainable goals are well within reach, like a terrible actress's delusions of grandeur that she won't just land her first role in a movie, it also will make her an Academy Award winner. * a delusion (common in paranoia) that you are much greater and more powerful and influential than you really are * A delusion of grandeur is the fixed, false belief that one possesses superior qualities such as genius, fame, omnipotence, or wealth. It is most often a symptom of schizophrenia, but can also be a symptom found in psychotic or bipolar disorders, as well as dementia (such as Alzheimer's).

elude

Elude means evade, or be hard to grasp. "Tom eluded his captors by hiding under a table. Martha tried to understand chemistry, but the subject continued to elude her." 1. escape, either physically or mentally "The thief eluded the police" 2. avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues) 3. be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by "What you are seeing in him eludes me" Elude has a slippery feeling to it. You elude the police, math can elude you — and that yak you went to see on safari but never got a glimpse of, you might say that he has eluded you as well.

allusion

That little nod to a Dylan Thomas poem that you sneaked into your PowerPoint presentation? That was an allusion, a quick reference to something that your audience will have to already know in order to "get." An allusion often references a famous work of art or literature, or to something from your own life. For example, you might say, "I obviously am no expert at love" — an allusion to your failed relationships. The main thing to remember is that an allusion is a brief hint or a quick mention. It's meant to bring to mind a particular subject, but it always avoids getting into it in great depth. * passing reference or indirect mention In an allusion to tax measures that scared foreign investors earlier this year, Singh promised "to leave no stone unturned" to bring in fresh money.

allude/elude

To allude is to talk around something, give hints, and generally not say what you really want to say. You allude to something when you don't want to say it outright: Your film alludes to various versions of the "sleeping beauty" myth — was there a single starting point? To elude, on the other hand, is to get away. Elude does love hiding from the law, but it can also refer to an idea you can't grasp or cheap health care: How the aspiring artist achieved his accomplished technique eludes us. Good, cheap health care has long eluded America.

delude

To delude is to trick or fool, often in relation to yourself. If you delude yourself into thinking your mom's chocolate cake is low in fat, you'll be disappointed to find out it's made with two sticks of butter! If you delude someone into thinking something, you are making a fool of them, or making them foolish. The word shares a root with ludicrous which means completely ridiculous. The thing that you foolishly believe is a delusion. Someone with delusions of grandeur has deluded themselves into thinking they are very, very special.

allude

When you allude to something, you don't identify it or mention it specifically. If you allude to the fact that a cop is sitting right behind you, your friends might stop talking about their plans to rob a bank. * make a more or less disguised reference to * to make indirect reference * drop a hint; intimate by a hint