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Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for October 24, 2021 is:

mirage • muh-RAHZH  • noun

A mirage is a reflection of light that can trick the mind into interpreting a sight as an apparently solid thing. The word is also used figuratively to describe things that are illusory or unattainable.

// What the shipwrecked crew thought was a ship on the horizon turned out to be a mirage.

// The team’s early season hopes for a first-place finish are now a mirage.

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Examples:

“Kozell spent the first day after the storm patching holes in his own roof, and he’s been helping clients ever since. A day off is a distant mirage for workers like him and Hasan, who predict they’ll be patching roofs for weeks to come.” — Matt Sledge, The Times-Picayune, 6 Sept. 2021

Did you know?

Mirage comes from the French verb mirer (“to look at”), which is related to mirror. Mirer, itself, is from Latin mīrārī (“to wonder at”), the ancestor of the commonly seen admire, miracle, and marvel.