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.
The research was presented at the Eurographics Conference on Visualization and builds on a broader Los Alamos project on color perception.
From Science Daily • Jun. 7, 2026
"Visualization is so important to me," Zizo adds.
From BBC • May 28, 2024
Over six grim pandemic months, from March to September of 2020, researchers at the MIT Visualization Group tried to find out how COVID-19 skeptics were talking about science and data.
From Slate • Mar. 11, 2021
Visualization is so much easier, and less time consuming, than reading and then absorbing what was read.
From New York Times • Oct. 14, 2016
However, if every Arisian follows his line of action as it is laid out in this Visualization, all will be well.
From Triplanetary by Smith, E. E. (Edward Elmer)
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.
