delusive

  • 1Delusive — De*lu sive, a. [See {Delude}.] Apt or fitted to delude; tending to mislead the mind; deceptive; beguiling; delusory; as, delusive arts; a delusive dream. [1913 Webster] Delusive and unsubstantial ideas. Whewell. {De*lu sive*ly}, adv. {De*lu… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2delusive — I adjective artful, beguiling, bogus, chimerical, crafty, cunning, deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, deluding, delusory, dreamy, elusive, fallacious, fallax, false, falsus, fancied, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, feigned, fraudulent, guileful,… …

    Law dictionary

  • 3delusive — c.1600; see DELUSION (Cf. delusion) + IVE (Cf. ive) …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 4delusive — delusive, delusory deceptive, *misleading Analogous words: fantastic, chimerical, visionary, *imaginary, fanciful, quixotic: fallacious, sophistical, casuistical (see under FALLACY): illusory, seeming, ostensible, *apparent …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 5delusive — [adj] deceptive apparent, beguiling, chimerical, deceiving, deluding, fallacious, false, fanciful, fantastic, illusive, illusory, imaginary, misleading, ostensible, quixotic, seeming, specious, spurious, visionary; concept 582 Ant. actual,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 6delusive — [dilo͞o′sə rēdi lo͞os′iv] adj. [L delusus (see DELUSION) + IVE] 1. tending to delude; misleading 2. of or like a delusion; unreal: Also delusory [dilo͞o′sə rē] delusively adv. delusiveness n …

    English World dictionary

  • 7delusive — adjective Date: 1605 1. likely to delude < delusive promises > 2. constituting a delusion < delusive beliefs > • delusively adverb • delusiveness noun …

    New Collegiate Dictionary

  • 8delusive — delusively, adv. delusiveness, n. /di looh siv/, adj. 1. tending to delude; misleading; deceptive: a delusive reply. 2. of the nature of a delusion; false; unreal: a delusive belief. Also, delusory /di looh seuh ree/. [1595 1605; DELUS(ION) +&#8230; …

    Universalium

  • 9delusive — delusion ► NOUN ▪ a belief or impression that is not in accordance with a generally accepted reality. DERIVATIVES delusional adjective delusive adjective delusory adjective …

    English terms dictionary

  • 10delusive — adjective a) Producing delusions. b) Delusional …

    Wiktionary