Mirage

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: mi=rage

CIDE DICTIONARY

Mirage, n. [F., fr. mirer to look at carefully, to aim, se mirer to look at one's self in a glass, to reflect, to be reflected, LL. mirare to look at. See Mirror.].

 An optical effect, sometimes seen on the ocean, but more frequently in deserts, due to total reflection of light at the surface common to two strata of air differently heated. The reflected image is seen, commonly in an inverted position, while the real object may or may not be in sight. When the surface is horizontal, and below the eye, the appearance is that of a sheet of water in which the object is seen reflected; when the reflecting surface is above the eye, the image is seen projected against the sky. The fata Morgana and looming are species of mirage.  [1913 Webster]
"By the mirage uplifted the land floats vague in the ether,
Ships and the shadows of ships hang in the motionless air."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Mirage, n.
1 an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions, esp. the appearance of a sheet of water in a desert or on a hot road from the reflection of light.
2 an illusory thing.

Etymology

F f. se mirer be reflected, f. L mirare look at

THESAURUS

Mirage

apparition, appearance, bafflement, balk, bamboozlement, befooling, betrayed hope, blasted expectation, blighted hope, blow, bluffing, buffet, calculated deception, circumvention, comedown, conning, cruel disappointment, dash, dashed hope, deceiving, deception, deceptiveness, defeat, defrauding, delusion, delusiveness, disappointment, discomfiture, disillusionment, dissatisfaction, dupery, enmeshment, ensnarement, entanglement, entrapment, failure, fallaciousness, fallacy, fallen countenance, false image, falseness, fata morgana, fiasco, figure, fizzle, flimflam, flimflammery, foiling, fond illusion, fooling, forlorn hope, form, frustration, hallucination, hoodwinking, hope deferred, illusion, image, kidding, letdown, looming, outwitting, overreaching, phantasm, phantom, phasm, phenomenon, presence, putting on, self-deception, setback, shape, snow job, song and dance, sore disappointment, spoofery, spoofing, subterfuge, swindling, tantalization, tease, trickiness, tricking, victimization, vision, willful misconception, wishful thinking

ROGET THESAURUS

Mirage

Hope

N hope, hopes, desire, fervent hope, sanguine expectation, trust, confidence, reliance, faith, affiance, assurance, secureness, security, reassurance, good omen, good auspices, promise, well grounded hopes, good prospect, bright prospect, clear sky, assumption, presumption, anticipation, hopefulness, buoyancy, optimism, enthusiasm, heart of grace, aspiration, optimist, utopian, utopist, castles in the air, castles in Spain, chateaux en Espagne, le pot aut lait, Utopia, millennium, day dream, golden dream, dream of Alnaschar, airy hopes, fool's paradise, mirage, fond hope, beam of hope, ray of hope, gleam of hope, glimmer of hope, flash of hope, dawn of hope, star of hope, cheer, bit of blue sky, silver lining, silver lining of the cloud, bottom of Pandora's box, balm in Gilead, light at the end of the tunnel, anchor, sheet anchor, mainstay, staff, heaven, hoping, in hopes, hopeful, confident, secure, sanguine, in good heart, buoyed up, buoyant, elated, flushed, exultant, enthusiastic, heartsome, utopian, unsuspecting, unsuspicious, fearless, free from fear, free from suspicion, free from distrust, free from despair, exempt from fear, exempt from suspicion, exempt from distrust, exempt from despair, undespairing, self reliant, probable, on the high road to, within sight of shore, within sight of land, promising, propitious, of promise, full of promise, of good omen, auspicious, de bon augure, reassuring, encouraging, cheering, inspiriting, looking up, bright, roseate, couleur de rose, rose-colored, hopefully, Int, God speed!, nil desperandum, never say die, dum spiro spero, latet scintillula forsan, all is for the best, spero meliora, every cloud has a silver lining, the wish being father to the thought, hope told a flattering tale, rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis, at spes non fracta, ego spem prietio non emo, un Dieu est ma fiance, hope! thou nurse of young desire, in hoc signo spes mea, in hoc signo vinces, la speranza e il pan de miseri, l'esperance est le songe d'un homme eveille, the mighty hopes that make us men, the sickening pang of hope deferred.

Dimsightedness

N dimsightedness, dim sight, dull sight half sight, short sight, near sight, long sight, double sight, astigmatic sight, failing sight, dimsightedness, purblindness, lippitude, myopia, presbyopia, confusion of vision, astigmatism, color blindness, chromato pseudo blepsis, Daltonism, nyctalopia, strabismus, strabism, squint, blearedness, day blindness, hemeralopia, nystagmus, xanthocyanopia, xanthopsia, cast in the eye, swivel eye, goggle-eyes, obliquity of vision, winking, nictitation, blinkard, albino, dizziness, swimming, scotomy, cataract, ophthalmia, blinker, screen, deceptio visus, refraction, distortion, illusion, false light, anamorphosis, virtual image, spectrum, mirage, looming, phasma, phantasm, phantasma, phantom, vision, specter, apparition, ghost, ignis fatuus, specter of the Brocken, magic mirror, magic lantern, mirror lens, dim-sighted, myopic, presbyopic, astigmatic, moon-eyed, mope-eyed, blear-eyed, goggle-eyed, gooseberry-eyed, one-eyed, blind of one eye, monoculous, half-blind, purblind, cock-eyed, dim-eyed, mole- eyed, dichroic, blind as a bat, winking.

Deception

N deception, falseness, untruth, imposition, imposture, fraud, deceit, guile, fraudulence, fraudulency, covin, knavery, misrepresentation, bluff, straw-bail, straw bid, spoof, delusion, gullery, juggling, jugglery, slight of hand, legerdemain, prestigiation, prestidigitation, magic, conjuring, conjuration, hocus-pocus, escamoterie, jockeyship, trickery, coggery, chicanery, supercherie, cozenage, circumvention, ingannation, collusion, treachery, practical joke, trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite, card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck, artful dodge, swindle, tricks upon travelers, stratagem, confidence trick, fake, hoax, theft, ballot-box stuffing, barney, brace game, bunko game, drop game, gum game, panel game, shell game, thimblerig, skin game, snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin, springe, springle, noose, hoot, bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens, cobweb, net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime, dionaea, Venus's flytrap, ambush, trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom, spring-net, spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery, mine, flytrap, green goods, panel house, Cornish hug, wolf in sheep's clothing, disguise, disguisement, false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes, pattes de velours, mockery, copy, counterfeit, sham, make- believe, forgery, fraud, lie, a delusion a mockery and a snare, hollow mockery, whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher, tinsel, paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels, scagliola, ormolu, German silver, albata, paktong, white metal, Britannia metal, paint, veneer, jerry building, man of straw, illusion, ignis fatuus, mirage, deceived, deceiving, cunning, prestigious, prestigiatory, deceptive, deceptious, deceitful, covinous, delusive, delusory, illusive, illusory, elusive, insidious, ad captandum vulgus, untrue, mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide, pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious bastard, surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated, unsound, rotten at the core, colorable, disguised, meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated, catchpenny, Brummagem, artificial, synthetic, ersatz, simulated, under false colors, under the garb of, under cover of, over the left, keep the word of promise to the ear and break it t, fronti nulla fides, ah that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, a quicksand of deceit, decipimur specie recti, falsi crimen, fraus est celare fraudem, lupus in fabula, so smooth, he daubed his vice with show of virtue.