What is a verb for "illusion"?
Solution 1:
I think confounds is often used in this context.
The optical effect confounds my perception of its real shape.
It has a nice feel of causing consternation without deceitfulness or the sort of blundery feel you get from "confuse." And whereas people tend to be confused, senses are confounded in literature.
Solution 2:
Um, what do you mean “illude does not exist”? Sure it does. It’s just a tad rare these days. From the OED:
illude /ɪˈl(j)uːd/, v. Now rare.
Also 6 illud.
Etymology: ad. L. illūdĕre to make sport of, jest or mock at, ridicule, occas. to trick, impose upon, f. il- (il-1) + lūdĕre to play. Cf. obs. Fr. illuder (Godef.).
† 1. trans. To mock, make sport of, deride. Obs.
2. To trick, impose upon, deceive with false hopes.
There a bit more than that, but those other senses are not used any longer; only #2 is. Here are some citations to go with it:
- 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals ɪɪɪ. ɪɪɪ. 293 ― Full of hypocrisie and dissimulation, to lull and illude one another.
- 1872 M. Collins Two Plunges for Pearl I. iii. 64 ― They had allowed their imaginations to illude them.
They also mention the forms illuded and illuding; for example:
- 1745 Warton Pleas. Melanch. 185 ― The woodman’s stroke, or distant tinkling team··alarms The illuded sense.
- 1887 Athenæum 3 Dec. 745/1 ― They [women] come across unfavourable specimens of the illuding sex.
I’m not saying that you’re apt to skate on entirely thick ice if you were to use these, but illude certainly DOES “exist”, and means pretty much what you would think it means.
Solution 3:
I might use the word obscures in that sentence:
The optical effect obscures my perception of its real shape.
From Oxford Dictionaries: "obscure (verb): Keep from being seen; conceal".
Solution 4:
What about deludes? I haven't seen it used as your sentence would have it, but its definition puts it close to your meaning.
Solution 5:
The optical effect dazzles my perception of its real shape.
dazzle: to lose clear vision especially from looking at bright light