ignis fatuus
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Are we following an ignis fatuus in setting it up as the panacea for the defects of our communities?
From Problems in Greek history by Mahaffy, John Pentland
It flashed through his mind that he had wasted two months pursuing an ignis fatuus, only to have nothing but bitterness at the end, when it might have been ——!
From Six Prize Hawaiian Stories of the Kilohana Art League by Armstrong, W. N.
Character, the vital principle of the individual, is the ignis fatuus of the mechanical biographer.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various
The terror would have been to think of him as an ignis fatuus, unconscious of himself, flitting hither and thither over the face of the Continent at large.
From The Tower of Oblivion by Onions, Oliver [pseud.]
Was this light of hope that gilded so beautifully the sad, dark hour of human woe, only a mocking ignis fatuus, so soon to go out in everlasting darkness?
From Nurse and Spy in the Union Army The Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-Fields by Edmonds, S. Emma E.
