Hallucination vs. Mirage — What's the Difference?

A hallucination is a perception in the absence of external stimulus that has qualities of real perceptions. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space.

A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French (se) mirer, from the Latin mirari, meaning "to look at, to wonder at".Mirages can be categorized as "inferior" (meaning lower), "superior" (meaning higher) and "Fata Morgana", one kind of superior mirage consisting of a series of unusually elaborate, vertically stacked images, which form one rapidly-changing mirage.

Perception of visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, or gustatory stimuli in the absence of any external objects or events and with a compelling sense of their reality, resulting from certain mental and physical disorders or as a response to a drug.

An optical phenomenon that creates the illusion of water, often with inverted reflections of distant objects, and results from distortion of light by alternate layers of hot and cool air. Also called fata morgana.

The objects or events so perceived.

Something illusory or insubstantial.

A false or mistaken idea.

An optical phenomenon in which light is refracted through a layer of hot air close to the ground, often giving the illusion of a body of water.

A sensory perception of something that does not exist, often arising from disorder of the nervous system, as in delirium tremens.

(figuratively) An illusion.

The act of hallucinating; a wandering of the mind; an error, mistake or blunder.

(transitive) To cause to appear as or like a mirage.

(AI) A confident but incorrect response given by an artificial intelligence.

An optical effect, sometimes seen on the ocean, but more frequently in deserts, due to total reflection of light at the surface common to two strata of air differently heated. The reflected image is seen, commonly in an inverted position, while the real object may or may not be in sight. When the surface is horizontal, and below the eye, the appearance is that of a sheet of water in which the object is seen reflected; when the reflecting surface is above the eye, the image is seen projected against the sky. The fata Morgana and looming are species of mirage.

The act of hallucinating; a wandering of the mind; error; mistake; a blunder.

An optical illusion in which atmospheric refraction by a layer of hot air distorts or inverts reflections of distant objects

The perception of objects which have no reality, or of sensations which have no corresponding external cause, arising from disorder of the nervous system, as in delirium tremens; delusion.

Something illusory and unattainable

Illusory perception; a common symptom of severe mental disorder

A mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea;

An object perceived during a hallucinatory episode;