as in saw
to see or sense something or someone that is not really there; to have hallucinations
The patient may hallucinate if she has a fever.
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Recent Examples of hallucinated
All 20 of those vendors showed some issue with accuracy or completeness in at least one of these simple tests, including nine that hallucinated patient information, 12 that recorded information incorrectly, and 17 that missed key details about discussed mental health issues.
—
ArsTechnica, 14 May 2026
That number is quite low, Topaz and others said, but more worrisome is the fact that hallucinated citations are becoming more common.
—Anil Oza, STAT, 7 May 2026
Last year, a Los Angeles attorney was fined for submitting a filing full of legal citations that were hallucinated by ChatGPT.
—James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026
The report was riddled with fake citations that appeared to be hallucinated by AI, which the White House attributed to formatting errors; HHS then corrected the report by removing the false citations and swapping in new references.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2026
Sonatype’s research found that GPT-5 hallucinated nearly 28% of component versions and, without real-time intelligence, even recommended malware.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026
The weather was accurate but the towns were hallucinated by the computer program.
—Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 25 Jan. 2026
Regardless, the guides require reading comprehension skills and don’t offer random, hallucinated, or uncited thoughts about the text.
—Joelle Renstrom
august 28, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2025
Zane Wach, 14, hallucinated and walked off a cliff while climbing Mount Whitney in Northern California on June 10.
—Abigail Adams, People.com, 18 Aug. 2025
ArsTechnica, 14 May 2026
That number is quite low, Topaz and others said, but more worrisome is the fact that hallucinated citations are becoming more common.
—Anil Oza, STAT, 7 May 2026
Last year, a Los Angeles attorney was fined for submitting a filing full of legal citations that were hallucinated by ChatGPT.
—James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026
The report was riddled with fake citations that appeared to be hallucinated by AI, which the White House attributed to formatting errors; HHS then corrected the report by removing the false citations and swapping in new references.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2026
Sonatype’s research found that GPT-5 hallucinated nearly 28% of component versions and, without real-time intelligence, even recommended malware.
—Tony Bradley, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026
The weather was accurate but the towns were hallucinated by the computer program.
—Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 25 Jan. 2026
Regardless, the guides require reading comprehension skills and don’t offer random, hallucinated, or uncited thoughts about the text.
—Joelle Renstrom
august 28, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2025
Zane Wach, 14, hallucinated and walked off a cliff while climbing Mount Whitney in Northern California on June 10.
—Abigail Adams, People.com, 18 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hallucinated
Verb
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Moving a blade back and forth to try to saw biscuits apart will make their layers stick (and ruin the rise).—
Ella Quittner,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
20 Mar. 2026
-
Ruggeri says that, in comparison to saw palmetto, which gets far more attention.—
Adam Hurly,
Robb Report,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Originally imagined in the mid-1990s as the Dark Matter Telescope, Rubin is designed to study our constantly moving and changing universe in greater detail than ever before.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
15 May 2026
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Hiba imagined seeing snow for the first time and living in a cold state, such as Ohio.—
Annie Hylton,
New Yorker,
14 May 2026
Verb
-
Max is everything Inger has ever dreamed of – travelled and irresistibly charming.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
14 May 2026
-
Sedelmaier originally had dreamed of a career as a cartoonist.—
Bob Goldsborough,
Chicago Tribune,
13 May 2026
Verb
-
Nearly every day this offseason, Turner contemplated his baseball mortality.—
Sam Blum,
New York Times,
15 May 2026
-
Imagine, for a moment, if former Vice President Kamala Harris had jumped into the governor’s race, as contemplated.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
10 May 2026
Verb
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For anyone who’s ever fantasized about riding horseback on a beach with a salty breeze blowing in the air, this is the place to satisfy your wildest whims.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
11 May 2026
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For years the sisters had fantasized, half-seriously, about having their own YouTube channel.—
Scot Paltrow,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Lambert's problem was first posed all the way back in the 1700s by the Swiss polymath Johann Heinrich Lambert, who pondered how to find the optimal trajectory between two moving objects.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
19 May 2026
-
Ikumelo pondered for a moment and went for Keke Palmer, star of Hustlers and Pimp.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
14 May 2026
Verb
-
Researcher Gabriele Oettingen studied this with students who visualized acing their exams.—
Terry Ward,
CNN Money,
4 May 2026
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Every vessel was visualized clearly.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hallucinated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hallucinated. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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