visualization
Britishnoun
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the act or an instance of visualizing
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a technique involving focusing on positive mental images in order to achieve a particular goal
Explanation
You can see it all so clearly: the mansion, the moat, the stable. Too bad it’s just a visualization, a mental image that looks so real it’s almost as if you’re seeing it. Time to buy another Lotto ticket. Often the word is used as shorthand for creative visualization, a specific practice that started in the New Thought movement of the 19th century. The followers of that movement believed that if they visualized what they wanted, they would usually get it. Eventually the technique caught on with sports coaches, which is why if you've ever played basketball for a school team you've probably been told to picture the ball going into the basket before you take a shot.
Vocabulary lists containing visualization
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.
Stephanie Stamm is an award-winning visual editor for The Wall Street Journal, specializing in data visualization, analysis and illustration.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026
OpenAI said Tuesday it would shut down its Sora AI visualization tool.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
“So that visualization should take you through variations of the same thing to show how something evolves.”
From MarketWatch • Mar. 16, 2026
An assistant professor in data visualization at Linköping University in Sweden, Besançon began investigating COVID-related research after noticing hundreds of papers were published as peer reviewed only a day after being submitted.
From Salon • Mar. 11, 2026
These included using our breathing, visualization, meditation, and even counting or going over times tables.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
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.
