delusion

delusion

Psychiatry a belief held in the face of evidence to the contrary, that is resistant to all reason

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

delusion

[di′lüzh·ən]

(psychology)

A conviction based on faulty perceptions, feelings, and thinking.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Delusion

Borkman, John Gabriel

suffers from delusions of power. [Nor. Lit.: John Gabriel Borkman]

Bowles, Sally

night-club entertainer thinks she has the makings of a great film actress. [Br. Lit.: Isherwood Berlin Stories in Drabble, 498]

Clamence, Jean-Baptiste

living with his own good and evil. [Fr. Lit.: The Fall]

Dubois, Blanche

felt she and Mitch were above others. [Am. Lit.: A Streetcar Named Desire]

Jones, Brutus

self-styled island emperor experiences traumatic visions. [Am. Lit.: Emperor Jones]

Lockit, Lucy

steals jailer-father’s keys to free phony husband. [Br. Lit.: The Beggar’s Opera]

Pan, Peter

little boy, refuses to grow up; resides in Never Never Land. [Children’s Lit.: Peter Pan]

opium of the people

Marx’s classic metaphor for religion. [Ger. Hist.: Critique of Hegel’s “Philosophy of Right”]

ostrich

hides head, thinking itself concealed. [Animal Symbolism: Brewer Dictionary, 788]

Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.