| / English Dictionary |
IMAGINARY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(mathematics) a number of the form a+bi where a and b are real numbers and i is the square root of -1
Synonyms:
complex number; complex quantity; imaginary; imaginary number
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("imaginary" is a kind of...):
number (a concept of quantity involving zero and units)
Meronyms (parts of "imaginary"):
imaginary part; imaginary part of a complex number (the part of a complex number that has the square root of -1 as a factor)
Domain category:
math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imaginary"):
complex conjugate (either of two complex numbers whose real parts are identical and whose imaginary parts differ only in sign)
real; real number (any rational or irrational number)
pure imaginary number (an imaginary number of the form a+bi where a is 0)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not based on fact; existing only in the imagination
Example:
to create a notional world for oneself
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
unreal (lacking in reality or substance or genuineness; not corresponding to acknowledged facts or criteria)
Context examples:
An hour or two sufficed to sketch my own portrait in crayons; and in less than a fortnight I had completed an ivory miniature of an imaginary Blanche Ingram.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The event acquitted her of all the fancifulness, and all the selfishness of imaginary complaints.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I know the danger of your being so far forgotten, as to have your comforts give way to the imaginary convenience of any single being in the family.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
An imaginary great circle on the surface of a heavenly body passing through the poles at right angles to the equator.
(Longitude, NCI Thesaurus)
The angular distance north or south between an imaginary line around a heavenly body parallel to its equator and the equator itself.
(Latitude, NCI Thesaurus)
But, besides real diseases, we are subject to many that are only imaginary, for which the physicians have invented imaginary cures; these have their several names, and so have the drugs that are proper for them; and with these our female Yahoos are always infested.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
I lived in perpetual fright at that time, and had all manner of imaginary complaints from not knowing what to do with myself, or when I should hear from him next; but as long as we could be together, nothing ever ailed me, and I never met with the smallest inconvenience.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
As one of these packets contained characteristic notes from the party, we will rob an imaginary mail, and read them.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
"Oh that they would!" cried Marianne, her eyes sparkling with animation, and her cheeks glowing with the delight of such imaginary happiness.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
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