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imagination

[ih-maj-uh-ney-shuh

noun

the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.

the action or process of forming such images or concepts.

the faculty of producing ideal creations consistent with reality, as in literature, as distinct from the power of creating illustrative or decorative imagery. Compare fancy (def. 2).

the product of imagining; a conception or mental creation, often a baseless or fanciful one.

ability to face and resolve difficulties; resourcefulness: a job that requires imagination.

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Psychology. the power of reproducing images stored in the memory under the suggestion of associated images (reproductive imagination) or of recombining former experiences in the creation of new images directed at a specific goal or aiding in the solution of problems (creative imagination).

(in Kantian epistemology) synthesis of data from the sensory manifold into objects by means of the categories.

Archaic. a plan, scheme, or plot.

COLLAPSE

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English < Latin imāginātiōn- (stem of imāginātiō) fancy, equivalent to imāgināt(us) past participle of imāginārī to imagine (imāgin-, stem of imāgō image + -ātus -ate¹) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms

i·mag·i·na·tion·al, adjective

non·im·ag·i·na·tion·al, adjective

Synonyms
3. See fancy. 5. ingenuity, enterprise, thought.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To imagination

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Imagination has a plethora of syllables.

So is sesquipedalianism. Does it mean:

an obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language.

given to using long words.

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Example Sentences

He also had a lot of imagination and knew how to apply it.

From the first, his scientific research and his whimsical imagination encouraged each other.

Television continues to enjoy a robust hold on the popular imagination.

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He also had a lot of imagination and knew how to apply it.

From the first, his scientific research and his whimsical imagination encouraged each other.

Television continues to enjoy a robust hold on the popular imagination.

He had a certain kind of imagination, the imagination of a criminal.

Creative imagination creates new technology, philosophies, etc.

Zéphirin is known for his powerful imagination and devastating social commentary.

In this room they let their daughter's imagination run wild.

QR codes are a technology that has never seemed to really capture the imagination of the general public.

It's the old argument for radio dramas, which are scarier because the imagination has to supply what the eyes can't see.

Apparently not all teenagers are the cachet-seeking consumers of popular imagination.

Mars continues to hold human imagination in its grip.

The amount of waters was beyond my imagination and the ability to almost touch the falls was overwhelming.

The eye sees a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination awake.

At the time, women weren't perceived as equals by any stretch of the imagination.

Clearly some scents are better left to the imagination.

Anyone can use their imagination to make up pretend creatures.

Our goal, then, should be less about codifying new practices than about tapping equally into our experience and imagination.

But, at the same moment as the imagination soars, the intellect applies-to use the jargon of the rocketeers' trade-the brakes.

All these constructs of human imagination are laced with cracks or toppled on their sides.

The limit of possible mediums to increase creativity is only limited by your imagination.

But their work makes up in imagination what it lacks in realism.

And it's certainly not limited by human imagination.

They opened my eyes to the raw power of the imagination.

China's central bank has a lot of money but not a lot of imagination.

The detailed images of alien vistas, after one pores over them for days or weeks, commandeer the imagination.

And the abstract imagination developed for making clothing could easily be applied to making shelter.

Just what such a large dinosaur would hide behind is left to our imagination.

Robotic hands have a hold on our imagination because they give us a tantalizing look at a fully automated future.

Most part of the understanding is based on our imagination.

People have to realize that nature benefits us in ways beyond our imagination.

Collective imagination can flourish only if everyone feels free of anxiety and full of trust.

They're silent and motionless now, but a little imagination turns the engines.

Rocks weather and erode into all sorts of shapes that the imagination can interpret as familiar objects.

But there is another tiger-the tiger of legend and popular imagination.

We humans are a storytelling species, enamored with our own fantasies and imagination.

Wild flights of imagination fill in the gaps as to what's happening off a screen sanitized by the strict requirements.

Technology and nostalgia are the evil twins of contemporary imagination.

Then stretch your imagination and share your thoughts on our forum board.

Unfortunately, that sort of mission seems not to catch the imagination of politicians and lay people in general.

Great feats of engineering require greater feats of imagination.

Remin, the land in which the stories take place, is literally powered by dreams and imagination.

For the adventurous, ski and snowshoe expeditions are limited only by the imagination.

From the time our ancestors first painted on cave walls, the beauty and speed of horses have captured our imagination.

Given the right tools and encouragement, they will prosper beyond our wildest imagination.

But that image is not the one that flickers in the public imagination.

The best children's books spark imagination and understanding.

Blackbeard may not have been the evil cutthroat of popular imagination.

There's no question that human ingenuity and knowledge are initially crafted by our imagination.

It takes political imagination to make the changes needed to turn around the disaster bearing down on us.

Still, the ship retained its hold on the popular imagination.

However, the space city of people's imagination is still many years away.

Good scientists as well as good engineers generate original ideas and have imagination.

They are conversation pieces that whet the imagination.

No single element has tantalized and tormented the human imagination more than gold.

Obviously, there is no limit to power of human imagination.

There are also photos to get the imagination flowing.

But she has a wonderful imagination which helps her survive all her hardships.

People who show imagination can be seen as dreamers because their ideas have not been proven.

Here are nine recent inventions that have caught my imagination.

Krukin lets his imagination run to low-gravity sports and attendant sponsorship deals.

It does not damage the child to use their imagination and learn something about the law of physics.

Together, we'll step into a world that will feed your imagination.

We rely on our imagination to fill in the gaps our limited perceptions allow.

He's disappointed that the killer he conjured in his imagination did not match the man in the cell.

Moral imagination means the capacity to envision new ways to live your life.

But a lone challenger against the elements makes a special appeal to the public's imagination.

Designed to capture the imagination of young explorers and budding adventurers.

The building accommodated imagination of another kind as well:.

Let your imagination take wing as you tailor these gifts to their recipients' interests.

The cyborg invaded the cultural imagination in the now-iconic.

Such a failure of imagination has been at the heart of the debate about climate change.

Park your car, and see imagination and table manners gone awry.

It is no wonder solar power has captured the public imagination.

In this atmosphere even scientists have loosened the reins on that restless racehorse called speculation and let imagination run.

Your imagination is the only thing that limits the uses of hardscape.

Jack is a smart, eager kid with a great imagination and unlimited energy.

Which may be one reason why, as a setting, it lends itself so well to the imagination of.

He had given himself a break from the work and let his imagination wander about the concepts of space and time.

The breadth of his imagination has yet to be equaled.

She doesn't navigate his imagination so much as map the explicit tributaries that fed it.

In addition, exposing children to art in the early stages of development stimulates imagination and creativity.

His moves are awkward and sublime, full of imagination and possibility.

According to their view, free will is a figment of our imagination.

Occasionally, the imagination and creativity of a roleplaying game gets lost in the mix.

One might argue that the speaker in any poem is a persona-a fabrication of the poet's imagination.

All you needed was a bit of imagination and a fair dose of optimism to play them forward.

But the experienced tracker with a keen eye and lucid imagination can find tales of death and survival.

It could be a figment of the collective imagination of the world's amateur satellite trackers.

But the purpose of the minstrel show was to represent the white imagination of blacks.

Hoarding cash for a rainy day was seen as a failure of executive imagination.

It opens doors to the imagination of how to extend our reach to ever more remote regions.

None of those toys will improve the child's imagination.

Seeing all the imagination that goes into everything.

Literary novels and memoirs are both inventions shaped by the imagination.

Our photographers travel to the farthest reaches of the globe to capture images that fuel the imagination.

Orphanages linger in the popular imagination as unnatural relics, places from which neglected children need to be quickly rescued.

Bernard, meanwhile, preferred to paint from his imagination.

Indeed, the sculptures seem to have bubbled up from the depths of his imagination.

But if that happens, it will be because of the work and imagination of a brilliant collection of scholars.

The old way of doing arms control-highly technical and incremental-no longer captures the public's imagination.

Prehistoric sea creatures have been the subject of people's imagination for a long time.

It seems to mean, something that can be twisted by an over active imagination to imply anything.

It looms large in the imagination because it looms large, period.

One vendor site shows the dearth of imagination present in gift marketing departments.

The anxiety my husband experiences when dealing with this is beyond imagination.

Today it is abundantly clear that those revelations were not a figment of accountants' imagination.

The totem pole's open window, carved into the bear's belly, represents birth and imagination.

First marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

It's part of the human imagination woven into textiles which are representations of life.

Explore your imagination and take your dreams and fantasies seriously.

The wretchedness of its foreshortened life was left to the imagination.

No single element has tantalized and tormented the human imagination more than the shimmering metal known by the chemical symbol.

Einstein him self would be totally amazed by your imagination of reality unfolding.

The shuttles never captured the public imagination in the manner of the moon programme.

Human understanding may be more imagination initially, but for scientific purposes, more is required than imagination.

Maybe you would end up finding a colossal squid whose size is beyond our imagination.

The skimpy bits of cloth on the statue's man, woman and child leave little to the imagination.

Leadership in these realms requires vision and imagination that transcends mere engineering ingenuity.

Imagination fills in the stories of that room,the chair and the history of the inhabitants of that now lonely room.

Those ubiquitous smartphones are not a figment of your imagination.

Or, for that matter, if they have a vivid imagination.

It is beyond my imagination how this project even made it beyond the drawing boards.

Kudos to science for making the imagination reel with rambunctious flair.

We, as humans telling stories, need to retain elements of fantasy and imagination.

It is usually better to rely on incentives and imagination than fall back on command and control.

Where would this discussion be without the input of kimberanne and her creative imagination.

Those with good ideas put their effort and money where their imagination and knowledge leads.

They can't agree to be donors, since they are not by any stretch of the imagination cognitive enough to do so.

Yes, things can be different in our imagination and in our dreams, but we're talking about reality.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

imagination (ɪˌmædʒɪˈneɪʃən)

—n
1.	the faculty or action of producing ideas, esp mental images of what is not present or has not been experienced
2.	mental creative ability
3.	the ability to deal resourcefully with unexpected or unusual problems, circumstances, etc
4.	Compare fancy (in romantic literary criticism, esp that of S. T. Coleridge) a creative act of perception that joins passive and active elements in thinking and imposes unity on the poetic material

imagi'national

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

imagination

see figment of one's imagination.

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