imagery

American  

[im-ij-ree, im-i-juh-ree] / ˈɪm ɪdʒ ri, ˈɪm ɪ dʒə ri /

noun

• imageries
  plural

1. 

   the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively.

   the dim imagery of a dream.

2. pictorial images, as in works of art.

3. the use of rhetorical images.

4. figurative description or illustration; rhetorical images collectively.

5. Psychology. mental images collectively, especially those produced by the action of imagination.

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imagery British  

/ ˈɪmɪdʒrɪ, -dʒərɪ /

noun

1. figurative or descriptive language in a literary work

2. images collectively

3. psychol

   1. the materials or general processes of the imagination

   2. the characteristic kind of mental images formed by a particular individual See also image imagination

4. military the presentation of objects reproduced photographically (by infrared or electronic means) as prints or electronic displays

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imagery Cultural  

1. The mental pictures created by a piece of writing: “The imagery of “The Waste Land” — crumbling towers, dried-up wells, toppled tombstones — conveys the author's sense of a civilization in decay.”

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• imagerial
  adjective
• imagerially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• imageries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of imagery

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English imagerie, from Old French, equivalent to image + -ery

Explanation

Picture this: imagery is a noun to describe the way things or ideas seem in your mind or in art or literature. Imagery comes from image and originally referred to physical things like statues. Now it is more often used of an artist's or writer's depictions ("Shakespeare's imagery shows a wide knowledge of the world") or of the pictures of the world in someone's mind. Think of imagery as being the stockpile of your imagination. If the imagery in your dreams is a little scary, it might be time to stop eating those spicy meatball sandwiches right before bedtime.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

imagery imageries

AI slop has begun appearing on restaurant menus, signs and advertisements, offering food imagery that looks optimized for appetite without necessarily resembling anything a person could cook.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026

Drone strikes were the "most likely" cause, a diplomatic source based in the city told AFP, "though we haven't been able to obtain imagery or independent confirmation".

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

Ms. Margolles witnessed these outcomes first-hand in her earlier career as a forensic technician in Mexico City’s morgue, an experience that infuses her work with elements of scientific exactitude as well as ritualistic imagery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

Using sonar surveys, historical satellite imagery and five years of monitoring data, the study tracked recovery across 39 damaged areas of seabed.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

Odd too is the effect produced when he uses academic jargon—bubbles at the tip of his tongue: ‘Topos... negative capability... vegetation imagery in Shakespearean comedy.’

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

In each case, she examines her life through the lens of fairy tales, demonstrating how we can draw on their moralities and imageries to make sense of ourselves and our relationship to others.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 11, 2023

These are very real things, very real issues that we deal with, and the dope, almost simple act of just showing regular humans can counteract years of negative imageries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2021

As you pointed out, there are many beautiful imageries in science, and they are often produced during the course of conducting an experiment or as a way of presenting the result of said experiment.

From Scientific American ● Jan. 13, 2012

It represented an "airy, fairy Lilian" of eighteen, or thereabouts, lolling coquettishly, fan in hand, in an antique, high-backed chair, with "carven imageries," and a tasselled cushion.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 11, September, 1858 by Various

As they danced, the colored imageries steadily faded in the growing intensity of the great banded coronas that rose from the north.

From The Eternal Maiden by T. Everett Harré

Related Words

• symbolism