mirage means an optical phenomenon in which light is refracted through a layer of hot air close to the ground, often giving the illusion of a body of water.
mirage is pronounced /mɪˈɹɑːʒ/.
Etymology
An unadapted borrowing from French mirage c. 1812.
noun
- An optical phenomenon in which light is refracted through a layer of hot air close to the ground, often giving the illusion of a body of water.
- An illusion.“I remember hearing, that in the East the clear and azure waters seem to flow before the weary and parched traveller; yet a little further, and on he urges his weary way, but in vain—the fair stream is a delusion. Even thus happiness is the mirage which leads us over the desert of life, ever fated to end in deceit and disappointment.”
verb
- To cause to appear as or like a mirage.“All that had been in his mind seemed suddenly miraged before him—the removal of Hunterleys, his own wife's failing health.”