Deluded

How to spell deluded

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce deluded

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does deluded mean?

1. adjectiveHolding a belief or impression that is plainly false, mistaken, or unrealistic.
2. verbPast tense of delude: to have deceived someone into believing something untrue.

Deluded in a sentence

• adjective

  He was utterly deluded about his chances of winning the contract.

• verb

  The salesman deluded his customers with promises he could never keep.

• adjective

  Anyone who thinks this scheme is risk free is sadly deluded.

• verb

  For years she deluded herself into thinking the debt would vanish.

Where does deluded come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb deludere, which meant to mock, to cheat, or to play someone false, formed from the intensifying prefix de- and the verb ludere, meaning to play or to make sport of. The same ludere root sits inside familiar English words such as 'illusion', 'ludicrous', and 'prelude', all carrying that older flavour of play and trickery. Latin deludere passed into late Middle English in the early 1400s as the verb 'delude', meaning to deceive or to lead the mind astray. The form 'deluded' is its past participle, used both as a verb tense and as an adjective describing a person fooled into believing something untrue. The single 'l' and single 'd' in the middle are worth remembering, since the word's ludere ancestry explains why there is no doubling: the play element is just lud, not 'lull' or 'ludd'.

How the word is built

• de- (thoroughly)
• lud (from Latin ludere: to play)
• -ed (past participle/adjective suffix)