imaginary

[ih-maj-uh-ner-ee]

adjective

1. existing only in the imagination or fancy; not real; fancied.

   an imaginary illness; the imaginary animals in the stories of Dr. Seuss.

   Synonyms: illusory, baseless, chimerical, shadowy, visionary, fanciful
   Antonyms: real

noun

plural

imaginaries 

1. Mathematics.,  imaginary number.

imaginary

/ -dʒɪnrɪ, ɪˈmædʒɪnərɪ /

adjective

1. existing in the imagination; unreal; illusory

2. maths involving or containing imaginary numbers. The imaginary part of a complex number, z, is usually written Im z

Other Word Forms

• imaginariness noun
• imaginarily adverb
• nonimaginarily adverb
• nonimaginarilyness noun
• nonimaginariness noun
• nonimaginary adjective
• preimaginary adjective
• unimaginary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of imaginary¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin imāginārius, equivalent to imāgin-, (stem of imāgō ) image + -ārius -ary

Example Sentences

The right had become fatally un-hip, trapped in a pathetic, imaginary vision of the past.

From Salon

Every phrase is for him an oddity, as if he had found some weird object in an imaginary world and was figuring out what he might do with it.

From Los Angeles Times

“When I say that conversation never happened, that imaginary conversation never happened, I mean that conversation never happened.”

From Salon

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was one of the right-wingers celebrating the imaginary liberal-triggering powers of the sorority dancing videos.

From Salon

I always like to be fully alive in my body, in the imaginary life of the character at all times.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• abstract 
• fanciful 
• fantastic 
• fictional 
• hypothetical 
• imagined www.thesaurus.com
• theoretical 
• unreal 
• whimsical