trick of the light
Visual deception, momentary
A trick of the light is a visual illusion caused by lighting conditions—shadows, reflections, or angles that make you see something that isn't there or misperceive what is: I thought I saw someone in the window, but it was just a trick of the light.
The phrase often dismisses apparent sightings of ghosts or other anomalies.
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- seeing thingsPerceiving nonexistent phenomena
- pareidoliaPerceiving patterns in randomness
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
shadowplay · smoke and mirrors · mirage · imagining · deception · sleight of hand · hallucination · trompe-l'œil · optical · afterimage · phenomenon · lens flare · chiaroscuro · ephemerality · haunted · perception · reflection · visual distortion
trick of the lightproof positive
Incontrovertible demonstration of truth
hard evidence · certainty · incontrovertible evidence · photographic evidence · clear as day
trick, tricks, tricked, tricking, trickster, trickery, tricky, trickiness, light