visualize

American  

[vizh-oo-uh-lahyz] / ˈvɪʒ u əˌlaɪz /

especially British, visualise

verb (used without object)

visualizes, present (3rd person singular) visualized, past participle, past visualizing present participle

1. to recall or form mental images or pictures.

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verb (used with object)

visualizes, present (3rd person singular) visualized, past participle, past visualizing present participle

1. to make visual or visible.

2. to form a mental image of.

3. to make perceptible to the mind or imagination.

visualize British  

/ ˈvɪʒʊəˌlaɪz, -zjʊ- /

verb

1. to form a mental image of (something incapable of being viewed or not at that moment visible)

2. med to view by means of an X-ray the outline of (a bodily organ, structure, or part)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• revisualization
  noun
• visualist
  noun
• visualization
  noun
• visualizer
  noun
• revisualize
  verb
• nonvisualized
  adjective
• unvisualized
  adjective
• visualizable
  adjective
• well-visualized
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• visualizing
  present
• visualized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• visualize
  simple
• visualizes
  simple
• have visualized
  perfect
• has visualized
  perfect
• am visualizing
  progressive
• are visualizing
  progressive
• is visualizing
  progressive
• have been visualizing
  perfect progressive
• has been visualizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• visualized
  simple
• had visualized
  perfect
• was visualizing
  progressive
• were visualizing
  progressive
• had been visualizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will visualize
  simple
• will have visualized
  perfect
• will be visualizing
  progressive
• will have been visualizing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of visualize

First recorded in 1810–20; visual + -ize

Explanation

To visualize something is to be able to see it in your mind. From the twitching in their feet, it seems that sleeping dogs often visualize a fenced-in area and about 30 squirrels. Visualizing is a lot like imagining — both involve picturing something in your mind. But while imagine has the sense of wondering and exploring, when you visualize something, your hope is to make it real. Basketball players visualize themselves making a shot to help them sink the basketball in the hoop. Visualize yourself getting the job as you're going in to be interviewed and your chances for success will increase.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

visualize visualizes visualized visualizing

"I recently tested this out on a scene and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing," he added.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

Zhang Kai is a star researcher who works to visualize the inside of cells down to the near-atomic level, an area of high interest for pharmaceutical companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

To examine these interactions in detail, the team used X-ray crystallography to visualize the RNA cloverleaf and the 3CD protein together.

From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026

Another reason why your Marathon Man is a formidable way to visualize your financial future: He must embody all of your experience.

From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026

But the reader, with no agent in sight, has no way to visualize the event being moved forward by its instigator.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

This technique visualizes how groups of neurons coordinate their activity, revealing patterns of organization.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2025

The image also visualizes the star’s magnetic field lines, highlighting the magnetic connection between the star and the planet.

From Space Scoop ● Jul. 17, 2025

“You’ve got to have the right mindset, the right mentality, to come in here and just find a way to dominate the day,” he said, noting that he visualizes postseason success.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2024

That fragile gleaming pixel reshaped how humanity visualizes its place in the Cosmos.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 18, 2023

And his public visualizes him as a sort of Buddha, brooding cross-legged in his library, receiving direct advice from the god of fiction.…

From Black Oxen by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn

The Journal visualized the scene with 3-D modeling software using diagrams from vehicle manufacturers, open-source mapping data, crime-scene photos, court documents and interviews with firearms experts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025

"People visualized divisions, sequences, and balance through their art."

From Science Daily ● Dec. 16, 2025

“I just visualized it, and when you do that, it slows you down. It put me in a good mindset.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2025

For the first time we've pulled them out and visualized them from the human brain.

From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2025

Adrenaline coursed through me as I visualized just how I’d hit the springboard.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

Still, the streaming giant seems to be focusing mainly on the edges of production -- from visualizing a concept early on to color-grading footage after filming wraps.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

You will often see Wembanyama close his eyes before free throws, visualizing the swish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

"We hope this new technique of visualizing synaptic membrane dynamics in live brain tissue samples can help us understand similarities and differences in nonheritable and heritable forms of the condition," Watanabe says.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 1, 2025

“It’s just hard to get around him. Just start visualizing that size, that length on the right side of the offensive line with Mekhi there and Joe Alt.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025

I’m looking at the huge oak tree out by the parking lot and creatively visualizing climbing it.

From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King

Related Words

• anticipate
• dream up
• envision