hallucinate

verb

hal·​lu·​ci·​nate hə-ˈlü-sə-ˌnāt 

hallucinated; hallucinating

transitive verb

1

: to affect with visions or imaginary perceptions

2

: to perceive or experience as a hallucination

intransitive verb

: to have hallucinations

hallucinator

hə-ˈlü-sə-ˌnā-tər 

noun

Examples of hallucinate in a Sentence

The patient may hallucinate if she has a fever.

Recent Examples on the Web

Daryl has the unpleasant task of taking down two people who aren’t hallucinating: Angus and Fiona, the Scottish couple, who turn on Daryl to take the gas masks and save themselves. —Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2024

Definitely for the best, as bat guano in the chunnel started everybody hallucinating. —Charlie Mason, TVLine, 3 Nov. 2024

All models hallucinate—especially the leading frontier models trained on hundreds of billions of parameters. —Clint Boulton, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

Chatbots like Gemini often hallucinate or fail at simple tasks like reading clocks or counting objects. —Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 30 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin hallucinatus, past participle of hallucinari, allucinari to prate, dream, modification of Greek alyein to be distressed, to wander

First Known Use

circa 1834, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Kids Definition

hallucinate

verb

hal·​lu·​ci·​nate hə-ˈlüs-ə-ˌnāt 

hallucinated; hallucinating

: to have hallucinations or experience as a hallucination

Medical Definition

hallucinate

verb

hal·​lu·​ci·​nate hə-ˈlüs-ᵊn-ˌāt 

hallucinated; hallucinating

transitive verb

1

: to affect with visions or imaginary perceptions

the patient is not hallucinated

2

: to perceive or experience as a hallucination

may hallucinate monsters or attackers

—M. J. Horowitz

intransitive verb

: to have hallucinations