ignis fatuus
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Still the ignis fatuus of a shorter route to India tantalized the early navigators.
From The Greater Republic A History of the United States by Charles Morris
It is a nebulous, diaphanous, illusory being that vanishes- 18 - into nothing at the first attempt to grasp it; it is a mirage, an ignis fatuus that neither warms nor illuminates.
From God and the State by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin
It is a proteus that changes its shape before one can describe it —an ignis fatuus, that changes its place before one can get his hand on it.
From Calvinistic Controversy Embracing a Sermon on Predestination and Election and Several Numbers, Formally Published in the Christian Advocate and Journal. by Wilbur Fisk
How malignantly must this strange ignis fatuus, thought he, dance into the nightly conflict of all these clashing relations!
From Titan: A Romance Vol. II (of 2) by Jean Paul
Character, the vital principle of the individual, is the ignis fatuus of the mechanical biographer.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various
