different between figment vs mirage

English

Etymology

From Late Latin figmentum (“anything made, a fiction”), from fing? (“make, form, feign”); see fiction, feign.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /?f??.m?nt/
• (US)
• (General Australian)

Noun

figment (plural figments)

1. A fabrication, fantasy, invention; something fictitious.
   • 1989 (Sep 30), R. McNeill Alexander, "Biomechanics in the days before Newton", New Scientist volume 123, No. 1684, page 59

     He had not seen sarcomeres: these segments were a figment of his imagination.

Usage notes

• Often used in the form "a figment of one's imagination".

Related terms

• feign
• fiction
• fictional
• fictitious

Translations

References

• figment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• figment in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French mirage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?????d?/
• IPA^(key): /m??????/
• Rhymes: -???

Noun

mirage (plural mirages)

1. An optical phenomenon in which light is refracted through a layer of hot air close to the ground, often giving the illusion of a body of water.

   Hypernym: optical illusion

   Hyponym: Fata Morgana

2. (figuratively) An illusion.

Translations

Verb

mirage (third-person singular simple present mirages, present participle miraging, simple past and past participle miraged)

1. (transitive) To cause to appear as or like a mirage.

Further reading

• mirage on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Margie, gamier, imager, maigre

French

Etymology

mirer +? -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.?a?/

Noun

mirage m (plural mirages)

1. mirage

Descendants

Further reading

• “mirage” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• émigra
• gémira
• germai
• maigre