different between illusion vs vagary

English

Etymology

From Old French illusion, from Latin ill?si?, from ill?dere, from in- (“at, upon”) + l?dere (“to play, mock, trick”). Displaced native Old English dwimmer.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??l(j)u??(?)n/
• (General American) enPR: ?-lo?o'zh?n, IPA^(key): [??lu?.??n]
• (Conservative RP) IPA^(key): /??l(j)u?zj(?)n/
• Rhymes: -u???n

Noun

illusion (countable and uncountable, plural illusions)

1. (countable) Anything that seems to be something that it is not.
2. (countable) A misapprehension; a belief in something that is in fact not true.

3. (countable) A magician’s trick.
4. (uncountable) The state of being deceived or misled.

Synonyms

• (that seems to be something it is not): mirage, phantom
• (a belief in something untrue; the state of being misled): delusion
• (a belief in something untrue): misapprehension, misbelief, misconception

Derived terms

Translations

Danish

Etymology

From French illusion, from Latin ill?sio.

Noun

illusion c (singular definite illusionen, plural indefinite illusioner)

1. illusion

Inflection

Further reading

• “illusion” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.ly.zj??/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophone: illusions

Noun

illusion f (plural illusions)

1. illusion

Related terms

• illusoire
• illusoirement

Descendants

• ? Danish: illusion

Further reading

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

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l???u?n/

Noun

illusion c

1. an illusion

Declension

Related terms

• illusorisk

See also

• illustration
• illustrera
• synvilla
• trick

English

Etymology

From Latin vagus (“wandering”).

Pronunciation

• (General American, formerly) IPA^(key): /v?????i/
• (General American, now commonly) IPA^(key): /?ve????i/

Noun

vagary (plural vagaries)

1. An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action.
   • 1871, Charles Kingsley, At Last: A Christmas In The West Indies, ch. 8:

     It now turns out that the Pitch Lake, like most other things, owes its appearance on the surface to no convulsion or vagary at all, but to a most slow, orderly, and respectable process of nature, by which buried vegetable matter, which would have become peat, and finally brown coal, in a temperate climate, becomes, under the hot tropic soil, asphalt and oil.
2. An impulsive or illogical desire; a caprice or whim.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:whim

   • 1905, Jack London, War of the Classes, Preface:

     And then came the day when my socialism grew respectable,—still a vagary of youth, it was held, but romantically respectable.

Derived terms

• vagarity
• vagarious

Related terms

• vague
• vagrant
• vagabond

Translations

See also

• vaguery

Anagrams

• Varyag