imaginary
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imaginary
- /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪnəɹi/ UK
- /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪnɹi/ UK
- /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪˌn(ɛ)ɹi/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle English ymaginarie, ymagynary, from Latin imāginārius (“relating to images, fancied”), from imāgō, equivalent to imagine + -ary.
The mathematical sense derives from René Descartes's use (of the French imaginaire) in 1637, La Geometrie, to ridicule the notion of regarding non-real roots of polynomials as numbers. Although Descartes' usage was derogatory, the designation stuck even after the concept gained acceptance in the 18th century.
adjective more imaginary · most imaginary
-
Existing only in the imagination.
imaginary friend
Similar: all in one's head
- Relating or belonging to the imagination. Fiction refers to imaginary stories.
- Having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of √(-1) (called imaginary unit).
noun imaginaries
- Imagination; fancy. By then too Mozart's opera, from Da Ponte's libretto, had made Figaro a stock character in the European imaginary and set the whole Continent whistling Mozartian airs and chuckling at Figaresque humour.
- An imaginary number.
- The set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols common to a particular social group and the corresponding society through which people imagine their social whole. The sensory media are sensuous materials which prolong our bodily life into the surrounding world, and hence the media are imaginaries. These perceptually penetrated materials are " imaginaries " because they operate here in our living body […].
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: imagined, notional, fanciful, unreal, fantasy, imagination, imaginative, fabled, fictional, commentitious, imaginable, fantastic, fictive, legendary, fictitious, made-up
Translations
Every language
adj existing in the imagination
| Español | imaginario |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 환상적 hwansangjeok, 가상적 gasangjeok |
| 日本語 | 架空の kakū no, 幻想的な gensōteki na |
| 中文 | 幻想 huànxiǎng |
| हिन्दी | काल्पनिक kālpanik |
| Kiswahili | -a kubuni |
| Português | imaginário |
| Français | imaginaire |
| Deutsch | eingebildet, imaginär |
| Italiano | immaginario |
| Ελληνικά | φανταστικός fantastikós |
| Română | imaginar, închipuit |
| Русский | вообража́емый voobražájemyj, мни́мый mnímyj, вы́мышленный výmyšlennyj, вы́думанный výdumannyj |
| العربية | خِيَّالِيّ ḵiyyāliyy |
| עברית | דִּמְיוֹנִי dimyoní |
adj non-real part of a complex number
| Español | imaginario |
|---|---|
| Português | imaginário |
| Deutsch | imaginär |
| Ελληνικά | φανταστικός fantastikós |
| Русский | мни́мый mnímyj |
Talk about this word "imaginary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/imaginary. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. imaginary. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/imaginary "imaginary." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/imaginary.Cite this
@misc{imaginary_2026,
title = {imaginary},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/imaginary},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
