How to Use optical illusion in a Sentence
optical illusion
noun- The closer building looks larger than the farther one, but it's just an optical illusion. The two buildings are actually the same size.
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After all, a solar eclipse—when the Moon appears to cross the disk of the Sun—is an optical illusion.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 30 June 2022
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And for those of you who like to give yourself optical illusions, here’s how to make a face from arches.
—Cecil Beaton, Vogue, 31 Dec. 2018
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Then later that evening, the moon dog, a rare optical illusion, emerged low over the horizon.
—Norimitsu Onishi Nasuna Stuart-Ulin, New York Times, 4 June 2023
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Alas, a big ol' puddle was the culprit of the optical illusion.
—Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4 May 2022
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This produces the optical illusion that, in fact, your shirt is tucked in right at the top of your skirt, which is certainly not rolled.
—Kelly Conaboy, The Cut, 7 May 2018
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The singer took to Instagram to share some fun snapshots in an optical illusion of a dress.
—Chaise Sanders, Country Living, 16 Oct. 2021
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The jewel colors in this photo are what caught my eye first, followed by the optical illusion of a fist coming out of the sky to punch me in the face.
—Kathryn Prociv, Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2017
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This isn’t the first optical illusion look that Kenny has served.
—Briannah Rivera, Seventeen, 5 Jan. 2023
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By the end of next week, Mercury will switch acts in the optical illusion in our sky, moving out of retrograde.
—Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 28 May 2022
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Break out of your blazer dress box and try this take from Self-Portrait that feels like an optical illusion.
—Aemilia Madden, Harper's BAZAAR, 24 Oct. 2022
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Amdam likens them to the classic optical illusion (shown on the right) which depicts both a young debutante and an old crone.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 16 Sep. 2012
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Many of those grainy photos and videos turned out to be hoaxes or optical illusions.
—Eric Weiner, Washington Post, 9 Aug. 2019
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Later, the lines were proved to be nothing more than an optical illusion.
—TheWeek, 16 Aug. 2020
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Don’t dwell on how this trade looks; in a vacuum, a laundry list of draft picks can work as an optical illusion.
—Rob Mahoney, SI.com, 21 June 2019
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The famous 'Man in the Moon' is an optical illusion, based on patterns formed by dark and white terrain on the lunar surface.
—David Bressan, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2021
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From a plane, the backlit dunes look like an optical illusion, gentle sand waves rippling out to the horizon’s edge.
—Susanna Schrobsdorff, Time, 7 Feb. 2021
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It can also be called an optical illusion; the planets will be about 450 million miles away from each other at the time.
—Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Dec. 2020
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The legendary pro extended the print over lids and lips for a trippy optical illusion.
—Arden Fanning Andrews, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2022
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Straw raced to the warning track before an optical illusion took place.
—Paul Hoynes, cleveland, 2 Oct. 2022
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The mirror that spans from floor to ceiling at the rear of the kitchen offers an optical illusion of space expanding beyond the confines of the apartment—a clever trick.
—Kimberley Mok, Treehugger, 2 Mar. 2023
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But these drivers are, in a sense, an optical illusion.
—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 27 July 2023
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There are suits made with tulle and faux-fur and fruit-shaped appliqué, along with optical illusion bikinis and suits that seem to defy the laws of gravity.
—Teddy Minford, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Mar. 2023
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By the time the addictive, shuffling beat kicks in, the optical illusions commence as Grande then struts onto the ceiling.
—Abby Jones, Billboard, 20 Apr. 2018
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Some fans on social media worried that one member of the team may have ended up in a tree, but that turned out to be an optical illusion.
—al, 1 Jan. 2022
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Risks are minimal, due to the fact that it's supposed to be a brief optical illusion; hence why celebrities use face lift tape for big events and red carpets.
—Ariana Yaptangco, Glamour, 7 July 2022
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Take his camp-themed look for the 2019 Met Gala, a truly avant-garde optical illusion involving a few extra pairs of eyes and a Michael Meyers mask.
—Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, 9 July 2019
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The visual machinery in our brain that causes this optical illusion is present in the areas of our brain that detect sounds, too.
—Conor Feehly, Discover Magazine, 6 Oct. 2021
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However, this event is just an optical illusion from our vantage point on Earth as planets don't actually move backward).
—Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 1 Apr. 2024
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Sun halos are optical illusions created when ice crystals form in the correct shape in the upper atmosphere, usually accompanying thin, wispy cirrus clouds.
—Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2024
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'optical illusion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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