as in pipe dream
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Recent Examples of ignis fatuus
Unveiling ignis fatuus: Microlightning between microbubbles.
—
Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
Several sources say ignis fatuus, a spark of swamp gas, is the likely cause of the strange light.
—Fox News, 3 Mar. 2023
The story also helped explain ignis fatuus, a natural phenomenon that occurs in marshlands and bogs—such as those in Ireland’s countryside—producing flickering lights as gases from decomposing organic matter combust.
—National Geographic, 27 Oct. 2020
Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
Several sources say ignis fatuus, a spark of swamp gas, is the likely cause of the strange light.
—Fox News, 3 Mar. 2023
The story also helped explain ignis fatuus, a natural phenomenon that occurs in marshlands and bogs—such as those in Ireland’s countryside—producing flickering lights as gases from decomposing organic matter combust.
—National Geographic, 27 Oct. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ignis fatuus
Noun
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Only this second chance runs through youth reformatories and eventually the California State Prison – outside life is but a pipe dream.—
Zach Dennis,
Charlotte Observer,
15 May 2026
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But that seems to be a bit of a pipe dream.—
Jon Martindale,
PC Magazine,
15 May 2026
Noun
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Critics on the Croisette are starting to resemble that classic comic-strip panel in which an explorer crawls desperately across the sand toward an oasis that’s only a mirage.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
19 May 2026
-
The Reckoning None of this means AI is a mirage.—
Craig S. Smith,
Forbes.com,
14 May 2026
Noun
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Workers will continue with smaller tasks around the facade, including the installation of chimeras that sit on the roofline, but the heavy lifting has been completed, Walter said.—
Dylan Lovan,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Apr. 2026
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Rather than a somewhat normal for Hollywood bakeoff, Paramount plans to kind of smush the two scripts together into one IP chimera.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2026
Noun
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As the guitar-strumming will-o'-the-wisp Maria von Trapp, Julie Andrews taught us a few of her favorite things.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Instead, every new Drake project is a buffet of humiliation, mortification, and self-serving delusion.—
Jayson Greene,
Pitchfork,
18 May 2026
-
As his daughter Kyoko (Banno) struggles to keep their fractured home together, Shinji drifts further into delusion, finding his sole tether to reality at a bar run by Mari (Ahn).—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
17 May 2026
Noun
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The percussive score by Joseph Shirley and Moses Sumney underlines this, and gives the whole film an eerie, curious atmosphere, lending to a sense of nightmarish unreality.—
Katie Walsh,
Boston Herald,
15 May 2026
-
As to the actual debate, there was an aura of unreality among the Democrats.—
John Seiler,
Oc Register,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Nina, Karen and Caroline started appearing in my daydreams, full of vigor and life lessons.—
Jennifer Acker,
PEOPLE,
8 May 2026
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Some stories plant deep in your creative brain and come out through songs heard on the radio and random daydreams in the shower.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ignis fatuus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ignis%20fatuus. Accessed 25 May. 2026.
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