imagination

From Middle English ymaginacioun, from Old French imaginacion, ymaginacion, from Latin imāginātiō.

• IPA^(key): /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

imagination (countable and uncountable, plural imaginations)

1. The image-making power of the mind; the act of mentally creating or reproducing an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.

   Imagination is one of the most advanced human faculties.

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎^[1]:

     She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination.

2. Particularly, construction of false images; fantasizing.

   You think someone's been following you? That's just your imagination.

3. Creativity; resourcefulness.

   His imagination makes him a valuable team member.

4. A mental image formed by the action of the imagination as a faculty; something imagined.

   Synonyms: conception, notion, imagining

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Youth and Age”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     And yet the invention of young men, is more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and, as it were, more divinely.

• (the representative power): creativity, fancy, imaginativeness, invention, inventiveness

• imagination on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French imaginacion, borrowed from Latin imāginātiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /i.ma.ʒi.na.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

imagination f (plural imaginations)

1. (countable and uncountable) imagination

• image
• imaginer
• imaginatif

• “imagination”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• ymagination

From Old French imaginacion, borrowed from Latin imāginātiō.

imagination f (plural imaginations)

1. (countable and uncountable) imagination
2. thought; reflection; idea

• imaginer

• French: imagination