delude

Etymology

From Middle English deluden, from Latin dēlūdō (“mock, deceive”), from de + lūdō ("I make sport of, I mock"). See ludicrous.

verb

  1. (transitive) To deceive into believing something which is false; to lead into error; to dupe.
    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. August 5, 2012, 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)
    To delude the nation by an airy phantom. 1775, Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To frustrate or disappoint.
    It deludes thy search. c. 1680, John Dryden, Dido to Aeneas

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