HALLUCINATORY Synonyms: 74 Similar and Opposite Words

hallucinatory

adjective

Definition of hallucinatory

as in surreal

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of hallucinatory Unlike Magazine Dreams, the modest but satisfying Test avoids the lurid descent into violent psychodrama that swerved into hallucinatory Taxi Driver territory and undercut that film’s integrity. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 June 2026 What results is a hallucinatory exploration of power, control, desire, and — that hottest of fascinated feelings right now — obsession. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 3 June 2026 Some of the poet’s most hallucinatory imagery seeps through the corners of the screen. — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 2 June 2026 The resulting feature is enigmatic and lightly campy, strange and hallucinatory, taking place in a liminal futuristic city that’s clogged with thick mist and terrorized by a violent serial killer named Leather Man. — Rachel Handler, Vulture, 18 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for hallucinatory

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hallucinatory

Adjective

The ideas suggest that Julie and Billy remain ideally equipped to take on an increasingly surreal era of looksmaxxing, brand integration, nepo babies, prestige dramedies and vertical video.

— Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 21 Aug. 2026
That plot twist gives Chase the opportunity to send Gemma into the Further, dreaming up all sorts of frighteningly surreal environments.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of surreal

Adjective

Over the course of one phantasmagoric evening, Robin witnesses events that prefigure the Revolutionary War.

— John Swansburg, The Atlantic, 15 June 2026
Right around that time, the Venice Film Festival saw Mamoru Hosoda’s anime epic Scarlet, in which the Danish prince became an ass-kicking Danish princess consigned to a hellish and phantasmagoric underworld.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2026

Definition of phantasmagoric

Adjective

Instead, Brew believes an ultimate compromise would mean Iran making an illusory comparison to the Strait of Malacca where there is a smaller, voluntary fee system for services rendered and maintenance.

— Jordan Blum, Fortune, 12 Aug. 2026
Conversations need grounding as intuitive Moon in your 3rd House of Communication opposes illusory Neptune in your 9th House of Travel and Learning, so facts and visions compete.

— Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 22 June 2026

Definition of illusory

Adjective

This isn’t callousness or delusive optimism but, rather, a rebellion against the suffocating expectation that the elderly have foreclosed the possibility of joy.

— Hillary Kelly, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2024
To separate art from its historical framework is futile, and to reject it in an effort to censor past violence is a delusive act of virtue signaling.

— WSJ, WSJ, 5 July 2022

Definition of delusive

Adjective

Out on a wooden platform extending over San Diego’s Mission Bay, young women sway from side to side, riding an imaginary wave to the beats.

— Kailyn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
Just before the pandemic, Manhattan’s MCC Theater staged a show called All the Natalie Portmans, about a gay Black teenage cinephile who envisions the actor as a kind of manic pixie imaginary friend.

— Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of imaginary

Adjective

Almost every great performer is at some point in their life delusional.

— Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2026
In February, Patrick Collison told TBPN there was a reasonable chance Q1 2026 would be remembered as the first quarter of the singularity, adding that in hindsight the claim might look completely delusional.

— Josipa Majic Predin, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of delusional

Adjective

The undercover analyst noted in a message that his fictitious 4-year-old brother would be home the next day, when the Perez meeting was expected.

— Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 Aug. 2026
Final testing relied on fictitious data instead of the real records of millions of residents.

— Komal Goyal, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of fictitious

Adjective

Anything seemed possible in medical science breakthroughs, from repairing a fictional astronaut to reconstructing a real-life ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).

— Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 19 Aug. 2026
The fictional microstate Elgaland-Vargaland begins as an artistic game but evolves into a powerful lens on borders and identity.

— Leo Barraclough, Variety, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of fictional

Browse Nearby Words

hallucinations

hallucinatory

hallucinoses

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“Hallucinatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hallucinatory. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of hallucinatory

adjective

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