imagine
Americanverb (used with object)
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to form a mental image of (something not actually present to the senses).
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to think, believe, or fancy.
He imagined the house was haunted.
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to assume; suppose.
I imagine they'll be here soon.
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to conjecture; guess.
I cannot imagine what you mean.
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Archaic. to plan, scheme, or plot.
verb (used without object)
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to form mental images of things not present to the senses; use the imagination.
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to suppose; think; conjecture.
verb
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(when tr, may take a clause as object) to form a mental image of
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(when tr, may take a clause as object) to think, believe, or guess
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(tr; takes a clause as object) to suppose; assume
I imagine he'll come
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(tr; takes a clause as object) to believe or assume without foundation
he imagines he knows the whole story
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an archaic word for plot 1
Usage
What does imagine mean? To imagine is to form a mental likeness of something or someone not present, as in Imagine flying in a rocket to Mars. To imagine also means to think of something, especially in a way that it is not currently, as in Imagine what the house might look like after all these years. To imagine is also to assume, as in Oh dear, the teacher imagined that we all did our homework. Finally, to imagine can mean to guess, as in Can you imagine what it would be like for it to snow in the summer?Example: I can’t imagine they will take much longer, so we should just wait here.
Synonym Usage
Imagine, conceive, conceive of, realize refer to bringing something before the mind. To imagine is, literally, to form a mental image of something: to imagine yourself in London. To conceive is to form something by using one's imagination: How has the author conceived the first act of his play? To conceive of is to comprehend through the intellect something not perceived through the senses: Wilson conceived of a world free from war. To realize is to make an imagined thing real or concrete to oneself, to grasp fully its implications: to realize the extent of one's folly.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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imaginernoun
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preimagineverb (used with object)
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reimagineverb (used with object)
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imaginableadjective
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unimaginedadjective
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well-imaginedadjective
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imaginablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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imaginesimple
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imaginessimple
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have imaginedperfect
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has imaginedperfect
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am imaginingprogressive
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are imaginingprogressive
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is imaginingprogressive
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have been imaginingperfect progressive
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has been imaginingperfect progressive
Past
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imaginedsimple
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had imaginedperfect
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was imaginingprogressive
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were imaginingprogressive
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had been imaginingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of imagine
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English imaginen from Middle French imaginer from Latin imāginārī, equivalent to imāgin- (stem of imāgō ) image + -ā- thematic vowel + -rī infinitive ending
Explanation
To imagine something is to picture it in your head. When we imagine things, we're using our imagination. The word image is a good clue to the meaning of imagine, a word for picturing or envisioning things. You could imagine you're a king, an astronaut, a firefighter, or a coyote. You could imagine the earth getting hit by an asteroid. If you can think of it, you can imagine it. Sometimes, imagining means believing or guessing. For example, your teacher could say, "Did you really imagine there would be no homework?"
Vocabulary lists containing imagine
Because of Winn-Dixie
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The Marvels
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Edge: Academic Vocabulary
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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:
Located at the bottom of the world, it’s hard to imagine a place more closely connected to nature, where New Zealand’s Māori communities have long lived in symbiosis with the land.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
"I like to imagine the best scenario possible and that was winning," added Ward when asked what he was thinking as his head hit the pillow on Saturday night.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
“It’s hard to imagine big tech companies are truly striving to become known as successful apparel brands,” said Simeon Siegel, senior managing director at the investment bank Guggenheim Securities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
“I take a piece of writing and a character, real or imagined, and research as much as I can, and then imagine it and try and breathe life into a person,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Fix the awkwardness with Jonah, I imagine writing at the top of a to-do list.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
"The new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have a very difficult time. Much harder than he imagines," former army chief Valery Zaluzhny -- removed in 2024 -- said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
In it, she imagines the sacrifice of loving a child enough to send her away to keep her safe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Neuromancer,” one of the defining cyberpunk novels, was published in 1988; that book imagines an interconnected, virtual reality world you can traverse by “jacking in.”
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026
He imagines people will give them names, as they have done for older non-humanoid robots.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
He imagines himself in the farmhouse she’s described to him, waking up to eggs frying in a skillet, walking with her through snowy, abandoned fields.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Instead, the Backrooms provide a collectively imagined and online environment of unease, abandonment and liminality.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
“I take a piece of writing and a character, real or imagined, and research as much as I can, and then imagine it and try and breathe life into a person,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
At the time, Ridgeley could never have imagined that a small act of kindness in a Hertfordshire classroom would eventually help change lives on the other side of the world.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
One might prefer the selfless virtue exemplified by Washington, the yeoman simplicity imagined by Jefferson.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The gentle boy, in my imagined version of him.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Until large language models came along, AI could not help with decisions like whether to buy Nvidia or SpaceX, since those require thinking through uncertainty and imagining future scenarios.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
The speeds of planes and cars may have plateaued, but one thing that has definitely sped up beyond all prior imagining is the speed of communication.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
National Geographic is already imagining the “Romeos” of prehistory.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
News, that some may have been thinking, but never imagining hitting the headlines.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
I ice it when I get home, and when I press on the place that hurt before, the sting is so mild I might be imagining it.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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.
