illusionist

/ɪˈluʒənəst/

Other forms: illusionists

An illusionist is a magician, a person who performs stage magic to entertain audiences. The teenager on the sidewalk who does amazing card tricks for tips is an illusionist.

Harry Houdini might be the most famous illusionist, specializing in escaping from what appeared to be impossible situations like being handcuffed and submerged in water. Other illusionists stick to pulling rabbits out of hats and quarters out of kids' ears. The earliest meaning of illusionist was "one who suffers from illusions," though it soon came to mean "one who creates illusions." The Latin root, illudere, means "to mock" or "to play at."

Definitions of illusionist

1. noun

   someone who performs magic tricks to amuse an audience
   synonyms: conjurer, conjuror, magician, prestidigitator

   types:

   escape expert, escapologist

   an entertainer who is expert in the art of escaping

   mind reader, telepathist, thought-reader

   a magician who seems to discern the thoughts of another person (usually by clever signals from an accomplice)

   type of:

   performer, performing artist

   an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience
2. noun

   a person with unusual powers of foresight
   synonyms: seer, visionary

   types:

   anticipant, anticipator

   one who anticipates

   diviner

   someone who claims to discover hidden knowledge with the aid of supernatural powers

   fantast, futurist

   someone who predicts the future

   forecaster, predictor, prognosticator, soothsayer

   someone who makes predictions of the future (usually on the basis of special knowledge)

   astrologer, astrologist

   someone who predicts the future by the positions of the planets and sun and Moon

   fortune teller, fortuneteller

   a person who foretells your personal future

   geomancer

   one who practices geomancy

   hydromancer

   one who practices hydromancy

   lithomancer

   one who practices lithomancy

   necromancer

   one who practices divination by conjuring up the dead

   oneiromancer

   someone who divines through the interpretation of dreams

   onomancer

   one who practices onomancy

   oracle, prophesier, prophet, seer, vaticinator

   an authoritative person who divines the future

   pyromancer

   one who practices pyromancy

   dowser, rhabdomancer, water witch

   someone who uses a divining rod to find underground water

   type of:

   intellect, intellectual

   a person who uses the mind creatively