Definition of "delusion" []

• The act or process of deluding. (noun)
• The state of being deluded. (noun)
• A false belief or opinion: labored under the delusion that success was at hand. (noun)
• Psychiatry A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness: delusions of persecution. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us."
• "Now the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, also lashed out, putting out a statement charging that she believes that President Bush has essentially enabled what she called the delusion that President Musharraf has had -- Wolf."
• "This propensity for self-delusion is evidently a fact of life."