hallucinate
hallucinate — verb
- hallucinatepresent simple I / you / we / they
- hallucinateshe / she / it
- hallucinatedpast simple
- hallucinating-ing form
1. to experience something that feels completely real — such as seeing a person, he
to experience something that feels completely real — such as seeing a person, hearing a voice, or feeling a touch — when nothing is actually there to cause that experience, often because of illness, injury, or the effects of medication or drugs.
After the crash, Amani began to hallucinate and saw bright lights that were not real.
hallucinate + see + [object that does not exist]
The doctor warned that a fever this high might cause Xiu to start hallucinating.
hallucinate as result of fever / illness
Erik hallucinated that spiders were crawling across the ceiling of his hospital room.
Some patients hallucinate when they stop taking their regular medication too quickly.
- see things
informal expression, less clinical
- have visions
can suggest a spiritual or prophetic experience rather than a medical one
- be delirious
specifically caused by fever or illness, not drugs
- perceive clearly
describes accurate sensory perception
文法句型
hallucinate + that-clause
hallucinate (no object)
用法筆記
Frequently used in medical and psychiatric contexts. The verb is typically intransitive; the thing perceived is described in a separate clause or phrase, not as a direct object.
常見錯誤
2. Used of an artificial intelligence system: to generate information that sounds c
Used of an artificial intelligence system: to generate information that sounds confident but is factually wrong or completely invented — for example, a chatbot creating a book title that has never existed or a virtual assistant describing a person who is not real.
The AI chatbot hallucinated a fake citation for a research paper that was never written.
AI + hallucinate + [false citation]
When Reuben asked the language model about historical dates, it hallucinated several incorrect answers.
The company warned users that the virtual assistant may hallucinate and give inaccurate information.
Developers are trying to reduce how often large language models hallucinate facts in their responses.
- generate accurate information
describes correct AI output
文法句型
hallucinate (no object)
AI / chatbot / language model + hallucinate
用法筆記
This is a relatively new metaphorical use borrowed from the medical meaning. It is most common in discussions of generative AI, especially large language models and chatbots. The AI is described as 'hallucinating' because it reports false information as confidently as if it were true, rather than because it experiences anything subjectively.