hallucination

Derives from the verb hallucinate, from Latin hallucinatus. Compare French hallucination. The first known usage in the English language is from Sir Thomas Browne.

• IPA^(key): /həˌluːsɪˈneɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

hallucination (countable and uncountable, plural hallucinations)

1. A sensory perception of something that does not exist, often arising from disorder of the nervous system, as in delirium tremens; a delusion.

   • Hallucinations are always evidence of cerebral derangement and are common phenomena of insanity. - W. A. Hammond

2. The act of hallucinating; a wandering of the mind; an error, mistake or blunder.

   • This must have been the hallucination of the transcriber. - Joseph Addison

Borrowed from Latin hallūcinātiō; synchronically analysable as halluciner +‎ -ation.

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.ly.si.na.sjɔ̃/

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• Rhymes: -ɔ̃
• Homophone: hallucinations

hallucination f (plural hallucinations)

1. hallucination

• hallucinant
• hallucinatoire
• halluciné
• halluciner
• hallucinogène
• hallucinose

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