imago
Americannoun
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imagoes,
plural
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imagines
plural
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Entomology. an adult insect.
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Psychoanalysis. an idealized concept of a loved one, formed in childhood and retained unaltered in adult life.
noun
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an adult sexually mature insect produced after metamorphosis
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psychoanal an idealized image of another person, usually a parent, acquired in childhood and carried in the unconscious in later life
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of imago
1790–1800; < New Latin, Latin imāgō; see image
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We are the imago Dei; we are made in the image of God.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 11, 2023
In the Butterfly Garden, I read about metamorphosis, from egg to imago.
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2019
It explores various interpretations of the Eucharist, human origins and the concept of imago Dei.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2016
Dr Sue Johnson’s books on emotionally focused couples therapy and Harville Hendrix’s imago therapy are also helpful.
From The Guardian ● May 27, 2016
It’s hard for me to imagine myself as a grown-up, one of those imago things.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
But a new research note imagines much of those unfilled jobs will go to humanoid robots.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
One imagines Mike Rogers has enjoyed a lovely Michigan summer.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
Joshua Kushner and his family, one imagines, will not starve.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
If “The Inheritors” traces the birth of our kind of consciousness, “Pincher Martin” imagines its last stand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Whenever Weedy gets an hour alone and away from prying goblin eyes, he goes into a kind of trance and then imagines what he wants to show us, whatever he’s seen.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
After bugs go through metamorphosis, they are called imagoes.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
In the case of the leaf-miners and leaf-tiers, little difficulty is experienced in rearing the imagoes.
From Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects by C. V. Riley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
