Meanings
nounPoggendorff illusion (plural Poggendorff illusions)
plural Poggendorff illusions
- An optical illusion involving the misperception of the position of one segment of a transverse line that has been interrupted by the contour of an intervening structure.
Origin
Named after Johann Christian Poggendorff, journal editor who discovered the effect in figures submitted by Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner in 1860.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Poggendorff illusion
conclusionfusioninclusionconfusionexclusiondiffusionintrusionillusioninfusiontransfusionextrusiondelusionocclusionBelarusianseclusioneffusionallusionprofusionprotrusiondisillusionmalocclusionpreclusioncontusionVenusian
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
Poggendorff illusion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Poggendorff%20illusion
MLA
“Poggendorff illusion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Poggendorff%20illusion. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Poggendorff illusion,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Poggendorff%20illusion.
Source: Poggendorff illusion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.