| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | fictitious, invented |
| Synonyms: | abstract, apocryphal, apparitional, assumed, chimerical, deceptive, delusive, dreamed-up, dreamlike, dreamy, fabulous, fancied, fanciful, fantastic, fictional, figmental, fool's paradise, hallucinatory, hypothetical, ideal, illusive, illusory, imaginative, imagined, legendary, made-up, mythological, nonexistent, notional, phantasmal, phantasmic, quixotic, shadowy, spectral, supposed, supposititious, theoretical, trumped up, unreal, unsubstantial, visionary, whimsical |
| Notes: | imaginary means not based on fact while imaginative means marked by independence and creativity in thought or action |
| Antonyms: | existing, factual, genuine, physical, real, substantial, true |
| Main Entry: | delusive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceptive |
| Synonyms: | apparent, beguiling, chimerical, deceiving, deluding, fallacious, false, fanciful, fantastic, illusive, illusory, imaginary, misleading, ostensible, quixotic, seeming, specious, spurious, visionary |
| Antonyms: | actual, certain, factual, honest, real, truthful |
| Main Entry: | dreamy |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | illusory, romantic |
| Synonyms: | abstracted, astral, calming, chimerical, daydreaming, excellent, fanciful, fantastic, gentle, idealistic, imaginary, immaterial, impractical, intangible, introspective, introvertive, lulling, marvelous, misty, musing, mythical, nightmarish, otherworldly, out of this world, pensive, phantasmagoric, phantasmagorical, preoccupied, quixotic, relaxing, shadowy, soothing, speculative, unreal, unsubstantial, utopian, vague, visionary, whimsical |
| Antonyms: | horrible, terrible, unromantic |
| Main Entry: | false |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | wrong, made up |
| Synonyms: | apocryphal, beguiling, bogus, casuistic, concocted, contrary to fact, cooked-up, counterfactual, deceitful, deceiving, delusive, dishonest, distorted, erroneous, ersatz*, fake, fallacious, fanciful, faulty, fictitious, fishy, fraudulent, illusive, imaginary, improper, inaccurate, incorrect, inexact, invalid, lying, mendacious, misleading, misrepresentative, mistaken, off the mark, phony, sham, sophistical, specious, spurious, trumped up, unfounded, unreal, unsound, untrue, untruthful |
| Notes: | fallacious means intended to deceive; fallible means liable to make a mistake or to be inaccurate or erroneous; false means not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality, or deliberately deceptive, or not genuine or real |
| Antonyms: | accurate, actual, correct, factual, genuine, known, precise, real, right, substantiated, true, valid |
| Main Entry: | feigned |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | pretended |
| Synonyms: | affected, artificial, assumed, counterfeit, fabricated, fake, faked, false, fictitious, imaginary, imagined, imitation, insincere, phony, pretended, pseudo*, put-on, sham*, simulated, spurious |
| Antonyms: | genuine, real, sincere |
| Main Entry: | fictitious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | untrue, made-up |
| Synonyms: | apocryphal, artificial, assumed, bogus*, chimerical, concocted, cooked-up, counterfeit, created, deceptive, delusive, delusory, dishonest, ersatz*, fabricated, factitious, fake, faked, false, fanciful, fantastic, fashioned, feigned, fictional, fictive, figmental, hyped up, illusory, imaginary, imagined, improvised, invented, made, make-believe, misleading, mock, mythical, phony, queer, romantic, sham*, simulated, spurious, suppositious, supposititious, synthetic, trumped-up, unreal |
| Notes: | factitious refers to 'made up, contrived' as opposed to what is genuine, while fictitious is 'made up, contrived' as opposed to what is real; a factitious story might be designed to serve a purpose, but a fictitious story is intended to deceive fictional is pertaining to or found in fiction; fictitious is 'false, fraudulent' or 'non-existent' |
| Antonyms: | actual, certain, confirmed, factual, genuine, proven, real, sincere, sure, true, truthful |
| Main Entry: | groundless |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | without reason, justification |
| Synonyms: | baseless, bottomless, causeless, chimerical, empty, false, flimsy, foundationless, gratuitous, idle, illogical, illusory, imaginary, unauthorized, uncalled-for, unfounded, unjustified, unprovoked, unsupported, unwarranted |
| Antonyms: | called-for, grounded, justified, proven, reasonable, warranted |
| Main Entry: | hypothetical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | guessed, assumed |
| Synonyms: | academic, assumptive, casual, concocted, conditional, conjecturable, conjectural, contestable, contingent, debatable, disputable, doubtful, equivocal, imaginary, imagined, indefinite, indeterminate, postulated, presumptive, presupposed, pretending, problematic, provisory, putative, questionable, refutable, speculative, stochastic, supposed, suppositional, suppositious, suspect, theoretic, theoretical, uncertain, unconfirmed, vague |
| Antonyms: | calculated, confirmed, factual, measured, proved, proven, real, reliable, truthful |
| Main Entry: | ideal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | conceptual; impractical |
| Synonyms: | Utopian, abstract, chimerical, dreamlike, extravagant, fanciful, fictitious, high-flown, hypothetical, imaginary, in the clouds, intellectual, ivory-tower, mental, mercurial, notional, out-of-reach, quixotic, theoretical, transcendent, transcendental, unattainable, unearthly, unreal, visionary |
| Notes: | ideal means conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence; idealistic means of or pertaining to idealists or their theories, pursuing perfection |
| Antonyms: | actual, common, material, practical, pragmatic |