imagery
- 1Visual images in general, or a collection of images considered as a whole.
Archaeologists rely on aerial imagery to locate buried structures.
The brand refreshed its imagery ahead of the product launch.
Similarimages, visuals, pictures, photography, graphics
- 2Vivid descriptive language in writing or speech that presents or suggests pictures of things to the senses.
The novel's imagery of rust and decay reinforces its theme of neglect.
Keats fills his odes with rich sensory imagery of ripening fruit and humming bees.
Similardescription, symbolism
Note
The sense critics mean: images built from words rather than from wood or paint. It reaches every sense, not only sight, so a line about humming bees or the smell of rain counts as much as one about color. It often takes of to name what the language conjures, as in imagery of rust or imagery of decay, and it is judged by how vividly the reader is made to perceive.
- 3The work or craft of a maker of images, such as carved or sculpted representations of objects.
The cathedral's facade is covered with imagery carved by medieval masons.
Workshops in the town produced religious imagery in wood and alabaster for churches across the region.
Similarsculpture, statuary, carving
Note
A craft word at heart: it is image plus -ry, the ending that names both a trade and what the trade turns out, as in masonry or pottery. It came into Middle English as ymagerie, from Middle French imagerie. In this meaning it covers the carver's labor and the carved saints left on a church front alike, while the other meanings move from the workshop toward the eye and the mind.
- 4Ideas and images produced by the imagination or fancy that are false or have no basis in reality.
His jealous suspicions proved to be mere imagery, with no basis in fact.
The fever filled her sleep with wild imagery of drowned cities and endless staircases.
Similarfantasy, fancy, imagination
- 5An unreal show or false appearance; imitation rather than substance.
The senator's folksy warmth was pure imagery, rehearsed for the cameras.
Behind the mansion's grandeur lay nothing but imagery: rented furniture and borrowed paintings.
Similarshow, pretense, facade, sham, artifice
Note
Here the imitation leaves the workshop and moves into conduct. The painted pine of imitation work becomes a manner put on for show. Because the use is figurative, it tends to appear in judgments such as pure imagery or nothing but imagery. It is easily confused with the "fancy" meaning. The difference is that this sense describes a show someone presents, while that one describes what a mind invents.
- 6Work made in imitation of another material or thing.
The hall's marble columns turned out to be imagery, pine painted with remarkable skill.
Dishonest dealers sold imagery as genuine tortoiseshell to unwary customers.
Similarimitation, fakery, simulation
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of imagery apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
This word comes from Middle English 'ymagerie', borrowed from Middle French 'imagerie'; it is equivalent to 'image' plus the suffix '-ry'.