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View synonyms for
ignis fatuus
[ ig-nis fach-oo-uhs ]
noun
plural ignes fatui
- Also called friar's lantern, will-o'-the-wisp. a flitting phosphorescent light seen at night, chiefly over marshy ground, and believed to be due to spontaneous combustion of gas from decomposed organic matter.
- something deluding or misleading.
ignis fatuus
/ ˈɪɡnɪs ˈfætjʊəs /
noun
- another name for will-o'-the-wisp
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Word History and Origins
Origin of ignis fatuus1
1555–65; < Medieval Latin: literally, foolish fire
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Word History and Origins
Origin of ignis fatuus1
C16: from Medieval Latin, literally: foolish fire
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Example Sentences
Examples have not been reviewed.
“That is an ignis fatuus,” was my first thought; and I expected it would soon vanish.
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The ignis fatuus was sometimes supposed to be the soul of an unbaptised child.
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We are beginning to believe Magdala to be a fata morgana, an ignis fatuus, which gets more and more distant the nearer we approach it.
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Never did a geographical entity seem so to play the ignis fatuus with the world as did the River.
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Nor he, nor any of the brave Plantagenets ever came to Ireland, for they were pursuing an ignis fatuus in France, instead of attending to their own business at home.
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