mirages
Shimmering false oases
Mirages are optical illusions caused by atmospheric conditions, typically heat distorting light to create false images—the shimmering water that appears on hot pavement, or distant objects seeming to float above the horizon.
By extension, a mirage is anything deceptively appealing but unattainable: The oasis turned out to be a mirage.
His promises of reform were just mirages.
Tremulous, wavering light
- heatwavesExtended periods of excessive warmth
- desertTo leave behind completely
- horizonApparent earth-sky meeting
- refractionWave bending between media
oasis · distortion · wavering · highway · hot air · sand · reflection · atmospheric
Intentional misleading of others
- hallucinationPerception without external cause
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- trickDeliberate deception
false hope · chimera · specter · unreality · vanishing · fleeting · ephemeral · delusion
Misleading sensory impression
- dreamSleeping mind's narrative
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
- unattainableImpossible to acquire
- false hopeUnfounded expectation of success
pursuit · chasing · disappointment · promises · utopia · paradise · success · wealth
shimmer
Tremulous, wavering light
- heatwavesExtended periods of excessive warmth
- desertTo leave behind completely
- horizonApparent earth-sky meeting
refraction · oasis · distortion · wavering · highway · hot air · sand · reflection · atmospheric · light bending
deception
Intentional misleading of others
- hallucinationPerception without external cause
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
trick · false hope · chimera · specter · unreality · vanishing · fleeting · ephemeral · delusion · fantasy
illusion
Misleading sensory impression
- dreamSleeping mind's narrative
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
- unattainableImpossible to acquire
false hope · pursuit · chasing · disappointment · promises · utopia · paradise · success · wealth · happiness
- Hallucinationsvisual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, visual hallucination, auditory hallucination, seeing things
- visionsvisions, apparition, dream, dreams, apparitions
- desertsand, sand dunes, sand dune, dune, dunes
- Etherealgossamer, wisp, wisps, vapor, mist
- False Realitiesillusions, simulations, virtual reality, delusions, hallucinations
- Altered Realitydreams, illusions, visions, hallucinations, daydreams
miragesrealities
Things that exist
actualities · truths · facts · verities · certainties
- desert mirageOptical illusion from heat