Meaning & use

hallucinating

verb·Academic

Perceiving things that are not actually present, often as a result of illness, drugs, exhaustion, or a mental health condition.

See it in a sentence

The feverish patient kept hallucinating and talking to people who weren't in the room.

Sleep deprivation can leave pilots hallucinating during long overnight flights.

A note on using this word

In technology contexts, "hallucinating" now also describes an AI system confidently generating false or made-up information.

Words with a similar meaning

seeing thingsimagining

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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