delude

English

WOTD – 26 October 2007

Etymology

From Middle English deluden, from Latin dēlūdō (“mock, deceive”), from de + lūdō ("I make sport of, I mock"). See ludicrous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈluːd/, /dɪˈljuːd/
• IPA^(key): /dɪˈluːd/, /dəˈluːd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːd

Verb

1. (transitive) To deceive into believing something which is false; to lead into error; to dupe.
   • 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1]:

     Ralph Wiggum is generally employed as a bottomless fount of glorious non sequiturs, but in “I Love Lisa” he stands in for every oblivious chump who ever deluded himself into thinking that with persistence, determination, and a pure heart he can win the girl of his dreams.

   • Burke

     To delude the nation by an airy phantom.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To frustrate or disappoint.
   • Dryden

     It deludes thy search.

Synonyms

• (to deceive): deceive, mislead

Related terms

• delusion
• delusional
• deluded
• allude
• elude
• illude

Translations

to deceive

• Bulgarian: заблуждавам (bg) (zabluždavam)
• Catalan: enganyar (ca)
• Dutch: misleiden (nl), bedriegen (nl), begoochelen (nl)
• French: tricher (fr), tromper (fr)
• German: irreführen (de), täuschen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: félrevezet (hu), megtéveszt (hu), becsap (hu)
• Italian: illudere (it), ingannare (it)
• Occitan: enganar (oc)
• Romanian: înșela (ro), amăgi (ro)
• Spanish: deludir (es), engañar (es)

Anagrams

• dueled, eluded

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Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ude

Verb

delude

1. third-person singular present of deludere

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) dēlūde

1. second-person singular present active imperative of dēlūdō

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Middle English

Verb

delude

1. Alternative form of deluden

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Spanish

Verb

delude

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of deludir.
2. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of deludir.
3. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of deludir.