imagine
See also: imaginé
English
Etymology
From Old French imaginer, from Latin imāginor, from imāginem, the accusative singular of imāgō (“a copy, likeness, image”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪˈmædʒ.ɪn/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: imag‧ine
Verb
imagine (third-person singular simple present imagines, present participle imagining, simple past and past participle imagined)
- (transitive) to form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one's mind.
- Shakespeare
- In the night, imagining some fear, / How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
- 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
- Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
- Try to imagine a pink elephant.
- Shakespeare
- (transitive) to believe in something created by one's own mind
- She imagined that the man wanted to kill her.
- (transitive) to assume
- I imagine that he will need to rest after such a long flight.
- (transitive) to conjecture or guess
- I cannot even imagine what you are up to!
- The board imagines the merger will increase profits by 25%
- (intransitive) to use one's imagination
- Imagine that we were siblings.
- (transitive, obsolete) to contrive in purpose; to scheme; to devise
- Bible, Psalms lxii. 3
- How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?
- Bible, Psalms lxii. 3
Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
(transitive) to form a mental image of something
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(transitive) to believe
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(transitive) to assume
(transitive) to conjecture
(intransitive) to use one's imagination
(intransitive) to guess
French
Latin
Portuguese
Romanian
Declension
declension of imagine
Related terms
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /imaˈxine/
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