imagine - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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From Middle English ymagynen, from Middle French imaginer, from Latin imāginor, from imāginem, the accusative singular of imāgō (“a copy, likeness, image”).
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.
Try to imagine a pink elephant.
c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 159, column 2:
Or in the night, imagining ſome feare, / How eaſie is a buſh ſuppos’d a Beare?
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.
- (transitive) To believe in something created by one's own mind, often something false.
She imagined that the man wanted to kill her.
There's nothing there; you're just imagining things.
- (transitive) To assume; to suppose.
I imagine that he will need to rest after such a long flight.
- (transitive) To conjecture; to guess.
I cannot even imagine what you are up to!
The board imagines the merger will increase profits by 25%
- (transitive) To use one's imagination.
Imagine that we were siblings.
- (transitive, obsolete) To contrive in purpose; to scheme; to devise.
- (transitive, Internet slang, rhetorical, sarcastic) Used to mock an idea by suggesting that it is ridiculous or ill thought through.
Imagine thinking that would work.
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
- This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
(transitive) to form a mental image of something
- Arabic: تَخَيَّلَ (taḵayyala), تَصَوَّرَ (taṣawwara)
- Armenian: պատկերացնել (hy) (patkeracʻnel)
- Azerbaijani: təsəvvür etmək (az)
- Belarusian: уяўля́ць (сабе́) impf (ujaŭljácʹ (sabjé)), уяві́ць (сабе́) pf (ujavícʹ (sabjé))
- Bulgarian: предста́вям си (bg) impf (predstávjam si), предста́вя си (bg) pf (predstávja si)
- Catalan: imaginar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Czech: představovat si (cs) impf, představit si (cs) pf
- Danish: forestille sig
- Dutch: zich inbeelden (nl), zich verbeelden (nl), zich voorstellen (nl)
- Esperanto: imagi (eo)
- Estonian: kujutlema
- Finnish: kuvitella (fi)
- French: imaginer (fr)
- Galician: imaxinar (gl)
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: sich vorstellen (de) (sich in the dative), vorstellen (de), einbilden (de)
- Greek: φαντάζομαι (el) (fantázomai)
- Hebrew: תאר (he) (teer)
- Hindi: कल्पना करना (hi) (kalpanā karnā), तसव्वुर करना (tasavvur karnā)
- Hungarian: képzel (hu), elképzel (hu)
- Indonesian: bayangkan (id)
- Italian: immaginarsi, figurarsi (it)
- Japanese: 想像する (ja) (そうぞうする, sōzō suru)
- Kazakh: елестету (elestetu)
- Korean: 상상하다 (ko) (sangsanghada)
- Kyrgyz: элестетүү (ky) (elestetüü)
- Latin: opīnor, imaginor
- Latvian: iedomāties
- Lithuanian: įsivaizduoti
- Macedonian: замислува impf (zamisluva), замисли pf (zamisli), се вообразува impf (se voobrazuva), се вообрази pf (se voobrazi)
- Maori: pohewa
- Middle English: ymagynen
- Mirandese: eimaginar
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: forestille seg (no)
- Old English: hīwian
- Persian: تصور کردن (fa) (tasavvor kardan)
- Polish: wyobrażać sobie (pl) impf, wyobrazić sobie (pl) pf
- Portuguese: imaginar (pt)
- Romanian: imagina (ro), închipui (ro)
- Russian: представля́ть (себе́) (ru) impf (predstavljátʹ (sebé)), предста́вить (себе́) (ru) pf (predstávitʹ (sebé)), вообража́ть (ru) impf (voobražátʹ), вообрази́ть (ru) pf (voobrazítʹ)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Roman: zamišljati (sh) impf, zamisliti (sh) pf
- Slovak: predstavovať si impf, predstaviť si pf
- Slovene: predstavljati si impf, predstaviti si pf
- Spanish: imaginar (es), flashear (es) (Argentina)
- Swedish: föreställa sig (sv)
- Tajik: тасаввур кардан (tasavvur kardan)
- Telugu: భావించు (te) (bhāviñcu)
- Thai: จินตนาการ (th) (jin-dtà-naa-gaan), จินตนา (jin-dtà-naa)
- Turkish: tasavvur etmek (tr)
- Ukrainian: уявля́ти (собі́) (uk) impf (ujavljáty (sobí)), уяви́ти (собі́) (uk) pf (ujavýty (sobí))
- Urdu: تصور کرنا (tasavvur karnā)
- Uzbek: tasavvur qilmoq
- Vietnamese: tưởng tượng (vi)
- Walloon: mådjiner (wa)
(transitive) to assume
- Bulgarian: предпола́гам (bg) impf (predpolágam), предполо́жа pf (predpolóža)
- Catalan: imaginar (ca)
- Dutch: veronderstellen (nl)
- Finnish: luulla (fi), arvata (fi), arvella (fi), kuvitella (fi)
- French: imaginer (fr)
- Greek: φαντάζομαι (el) (fantázomai)
- Italian: immaginare (it), ritenere (it)
- Middle English: ymagynen
- Portuguese: crer (pt), achar (pt), pensar (pt)
- Russian: предполага́ть (ru) impf (predpolagátʹ), предположи́ть (ru) pf (predpoložítʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: smaoinich, saoil
- Spanish: imaginar (es)
(transitive) to conjecture
(intransitive) to use one's imagination
- Bulgarian: въобразя́вам си (bg) impf (vǎobrazjávam si)
- Catalan: imaginar (ca)
- Dutch: fantaseren (nl)
- Finnish: kuvitella (fi)
- French: imaginer (fr)
- Greek: φαντάζομαι (el) (fantázomai)
- Italian: pensare (it)
- Portuguese: fantasiar (pt)
- Russian: представля́ть (себе́) (ru) impf (predstavljátʹ (sebé)), предста́вить (себе́) (ru) pf (predstávitʹ (sebé)), вообража́ть (ru) impf (voobražátʹ), вообрази́ть (ru) pf (voobrazítʹ)
imagine (plural imagines)
- (fandom slang) A short fanfic or prompt placing a reader insert in a novel scenario with a character or celebrity.
2015 March 2, Laura Starling, “FFIC101: An Introduction to the Horrors of Fanfiction”, in Critic, University of Otago, page 21:
Some imagines are more sexual and creepy than others: "Imagine Stiles walking in on you giving Scott a blowjob."
- 2019, "thranduilsperkybutt", quoted in "Author Spotlight: thranduilsperkybutt", Lemon, February 2019, page 37:
- If I get inspired immediately, I can bust out an imagine in 5-10 minutes.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:imagine.
imagine
- inflection of imaginer:
imāgine
imagine
- inflection of imaginar:
Borrowed from Latin imāgō, imāginem. Compare French image.
imagine f (plural imagini)
imagine
- inflection of imaginar: