Delude

//dɪˈluːd// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To deceive into believing something which is false; to lead into error; to dupe. transitive

    "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."

  2. 2
    be false to; be dishonest with wordnet
  3. 3
    To frustrate or disappoint. obsolete, transitive

    "It deludes thy search."

Synonyms

All synonyms
deceivedeceiveallurebamboozlebefoolbeguile

Example

More examples

"I underestimated teenagers' ability to delude themselves."

Etymology

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

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.