delude

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)‎:

     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) 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

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Italian

Pronunciation

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

Verb

delude

1. third-person singular present indicative of deludere

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Latin

Verb

dēlūde

1. second-person singular present active imperative of dēlūdō

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Middle English

Verb

delude

1. Alternative form of deluden

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Spanish

Verb

delude

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