imago
Americannoun
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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
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
“Wuthering Heights” looks just as the voracious reader imagines it as they tear through the novel: drafty houses, windy moors, color and texture that bound from the screen.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
The film imagines a world on the brink of a revelation: proof that non-human intelligence exists and has been hidden in plain sight.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Mr. Fountain imagines that the U.S. has been overrun by a weird medical epidemic known as the Weeps, which causes people to spontaneously break into tears.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
She closes her eyes and speaks to her granddaughter, imagines her words as slivers of light piercing the murky night.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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 Riley, C. V.
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.
