Literary notes about Delusive (AI summary)
In literature, the term "delusive" is often used to evoke the contrast between appearance and reality, casting a shadow of transience or deceit over tangible hopes and perceptions. Authors employ it to suggest that what seems vibrant or promising may in fact be illusory—as when a character recognizes that "hopes are often delusive" [1] or when a building’s strikingly attractive facade is revealed to be merely a phantom [2]. The word frequently appears in contexts where the ephemeral nature of beauty, security, or truth is underscored, whether in the bewitching, if deceptive, glow of moonlight [3] or in the caution against the seductive allure of a promise that ultimately leaves one disillusioned [4]. This careful use of "delusive" thus deepens the reader’s sense of ambiguity regarding what is real and what is merely a beguiling mirage.
- "Hopes are often delusive," said Mr. Trumbull, still in confidence.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - Most of all he marvelled at the swift flight of the maidens, the shifting of the place, and the delusive semblance of the building.
— from The Danish History, Books I-IX by Grammaticus Saxo - In the soft, delusive moonlight she looked fair and young as a woman of twenty, and here she could weave her Circean spells the best.
— from Little Nobody by Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs. - It denounced this fleeting life and its delusive pleasures.
— from Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. Werner
