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Imaginary vs Illusive - What's the difference?

imaginary | illusive | Synonyms |

As adjectives the difference between imaginary and illusive

is that imaginary is existing only in the imagination while illusive is subject to or pertaining to an illusion, often used in the sense of an unrealistic expectation or an unreachable goal or outcome.

As a noun imaginary

is imagination; fancy.

imaginary

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • existing only in the imagination
  • * Addison
    • Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer / Imaginary ills and fancied tortures?
  • (mathematics) of a number, having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of the square root of -1.

    • Derived terms

    * imaginarily * imaginariness

    Noun

    (imaginaries)
  • Imagination; fancy.
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, p. 324:
    • By then too Mozart's opera, from Da Ponte's libretto, had made Figaro a stock character in the European imaginary and set the whole Continent whistling Mozartian airs and chuckling at Figaresque humour.
  • (mathematics) An imaginary quantity.

    • External links

    * (Imaginary number)

    illusive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Subject to or pertaining to an illusion , often used in the sense of an unrealistic expectation or an unreachable goal or outcome.
    • Testing software completely is an illusive goal.
  • *
    • he could not catch the illusive thing that had sadly perplexed as well as elevated his spirit.

    Usage notes

    * Often confused with elusive.

    Synonyms

    * (pertaining to an illusion) illusory

    Derived terms

    * illusively * illusiveness