hallucinate
/həˈluːsɪneɪt
/verb [no object]
1Experience a seemingly real perception of something not actually present, typically as a result of a mental disorder or of taking drugs: Ben began hallucinating and having fits...
- After awhile subjects become disoriented and begin to hallucinate uncontrollably.
- I had a job as a technician, but I began to hallucinate more and have irrational thoughts.
- Because of expressive language difficulties, it may not be clear whether an individual with AD is indeed hallucinating or experiencing illusions or agnosias.
Synonyms
have hallucinations, imagine things, see things, see visions, be delirious, have delirium tremens, fantasize, daydream, dream
informal have a trip, trip, see pink elephants, have daymares
1.1 [with object] Experience a hallucination of (something): I don’t care if they’re hallucinating purple snakes [with clause]: he starts hallucinating that he is Jesus...
- Chris, come in here - I need you to look at something and tell me whether I'm hallucinating it or not!
- The parents of a woman of 22, so classified, reported that she was hallucinating a husband and children at the dinner table and engaging them in extended conversation.
- At the far end of Turnham Green I believe I'm hallucinating a mirage, until from the swinging sign before me emerge the words ‘Sandwich Shop’.
Derivatives
hallucinant
/ adjective & noun ...- Glib journalism of genocide offers instant gratification to jaded viewers needing ever higher casualty figures as fixes or stimulants but should such emotional hallucinants guide foreign policy?
- It shows young adults aged 16 to 19 who used any drug or hallucinants in the last year, by region, 1994 and 1996.
- He also has incorporated nicotine patches, cannabis and datura leaves, methamphetamine tablets and other prescription drugs and hallucinants.
hallucinator
- Because for every imbecility that comes along, there are dozens of hallucinators who are eager to put it over on people… and at least half the population is ready to believe it.
- About half of the hallucinators had cataracts or poor eyesight, compared to only 18% of the non-hallucinators.
- We showed that a region in the right anterior cingulate was activated in the hallucinators when they heard a message and hallucinated hearing it, but not when they simply imagined it.
Origin
Mid 17th century (in the sense 'be deceived, have illusions'): from Latin hallucinat- 'gone astray in thought', from the verb hallucinari, from Greek alussein 'be uneasy or distraught'.