# imagination

Pronunciation: say "i-maj-uh-NAY-shuhn" /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/

## Noun

1. The image-making power of the mind; the ability to mentally create or reproduce images of things not previously perceived.
   - Simple: The mind's power to make pictures of things that are not in front of you.
   - _Her imagination supplied every detail of the city she had never visited._
   - _Architects depend on imagination to see a finished building long before construction begins._
2. Creativity or resourcefulness; the capacity to devise original ideas or inventive solutions.
   - Simple: The ability to think of new and clever ideas.
   - _The low-budget film makes up in imagination what it lacks in special effects._
   - _Fixing the supply shortage took considerable imagination from the logistics team._
3. A mental image or conception produced by imagining; something pictured in the mind rather than actually perceived.
   - Simple: Something that exists only in the mind, like a picture you create by thinking.
   - _The futuristic skyline in the painting is pure imagination; no such city exists anywhere._
   - _His account of the voyage mixed genuine memory with imagination, and he could no longer tell which was which._
4. In particular, the construction of false or unreal images in the mind; fantasizing about things with no basis in fact.
   - Simple: Making up pictures or ideas of things that are not real or did not happen.
   - _The footsteps she kept hearing turned out to be imagination; the recording picked up nothing at all._
   - _His belief that the neighbors were spying on him was imagination, fed by stress and too little sleep._

## Origin

From Middle English ymaginacioun, from Old French imaginacion, from Latin imāginātiō. It is equivalent to imagine plus the suffix -ation.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/imagination (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).