delude

English

WOTD – 26 October 2007

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈluːd/, /dɪˈljuːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈluːd/, /dəˈluːd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːd

Verb

delude (third-person singular simple present deludes, present participle deluding, simple past and past participle deluded)

1. (transitive) To deceive into believing something which is false; to lead into error; to dupe.
   • 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1]:

     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.

   • 1775, Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America:

     To delude the nation by an airy phantom.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To frustrate or disappoint.
   • c. 1680, John Dryden, Dido to Aeneas:

     It deludes thy search.

Synonyms

• (to deceive): deceive, mislead

Related terms

• delusion
• delusional
• deluded
• allude
• elude
• illude

Translations

to deceive

• Bulgarian: заблуждавам (bg) (zabluždavam)
• Catalan: enganyar (ca)
• Czech: oklamat (cs) pf, šálit impf, ošálit pf
• Dutch: misleiden (nl), bedriegen (nl), begoochelen (nl)
• French: tricher (fr), tromper (fr)
• German: irreführen (de), täuschen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌾𐌰𐌽 (airzjan)
• Hungarian: félrevezet (hu), megtéveszt (hu), becsap (hu)
• Italian: illudere (it), ingannare (it)
• Malayalam: കബളിപ്പിക്കുക (ml) (kabaḷippikkuka)
• Nepali: छक्याउनु (chakyāunu)
• Occitan: enganar (oc)
• Romanian: înșela (ro), amăgi (ro)
• Spanish: deludir (es), engañar (es)

Anagrams

• dueled, eluded

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deˈlu.de/
• Rhymes: -ude
• Hyphenation: de‧lù‧de

Verb

delude

1. third-person singular present indicative of deludere

Latin

Verb

dēlūde

1. second-person singular present active imperative of dēlūdō

Middle English

Verb

delude

1. Alternative form of deluden

Spanish

Verb

delude

1. inflection of deludir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative