| / English Dictionary |
IMAGINATION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses
Example:
imagination reveals what the world could be
Synonyms:
imagination; imaginativeness; vision
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("imagination" is a kind of...):
creative thinking; creativeness; creativity (the ability to create)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imagination"):
fictitious place; imaginary place; mythical place (a place that exists only in imagination; a place said to exist in fictional or religious writings)
fancy (imagination or fantasy; held by Coleridge to be more casual and superficial than true imagination)
fantasy; phantasy (imagination unrestricted by reality)
dream; dreaming (imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake)
imaginary being; imaginary creature (a creature of the imagination; a person that exists only in legends or myths or fiction)
Derivation:
imagine (form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The ability to deal resourcefully with unusual problems
Example:
a man of resource
Synonyms:
imagination; resource; resourcefulness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("imagination" is a kind of...):
cleverness; ingeniousness; ingenuity; inventiveness (the power of creative imagination)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imagination"):
armory; armoury; inventory (a collection of resources)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The ability to form mental images of things or events
Example:
he could still hear her in his imagination
Synonyms:
imagery; imagination; imaging; mental imagery
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("imagination" is a kind of...):
representational process (any basic cognitive process in which some entity comes to stand for or represent something else)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imagination"):
mind's eye (the imaging of remembered or invented scenes)
vision (a vivid mental image)
envisioning; picturing (visual imagery)
dream; dreaming (a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep)
chimaera; chimera (a grotesque product of the imagination)
evocation (imaginative re-creation)
make-believe; pretence; pretense (imaginative intellectual play)
Derivation:
imagine (form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case)
Context examples:
What wild imaginations one forms where dear self is concerned!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Sensation invested itself in form and color and radiance, and what his imagination dared, it objectified in some sublimated and magic way.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
I formed in my imagination a thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of me.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
At the very first whiff of it my brain and my imagination were beyond all control.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The project is significant not only because of the scientific results, but also because it is likely to capture the imagination of people on the street.
(Star Explosion Could Change Night Sky, VOA News)
Sea monsters have often captured people’s imaginations.
(Sea Monster Swam Oceans 170 Million Years Ago, Voanews)
After which, like one whose imagination was struck with something never seen or heard of before, he would lift up his eyes with amazement and indignation.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
You will have four planets in that house by the time of the new moon February 23—the Sun, new moon, your ruler Mercury, and Neptune, the planet of imagination.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
But it will take more than imagination to carry Dorothy back to Kansas, and I'm sure I don't know how it can be done.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Marianne was astonished to find how much the imagination of her mother and herself had outstripped the truth.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
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