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

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Etymology

Origin of visualize

First recorded in 1810–20; visual + -ize

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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

To understand his journey, you have to go back years and visualize the scene from his days as an 11-year-old.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

I laughed trying to visualize what she said.

From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026

The company unveiled the feature as a way to "visualize history, create real estate plans and more."

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

"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

I closed my eyes and went over the propositional calculus, trying to visualize the truth tables for conjunction, disjunction, equivalence, and material implication.

From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

In this masterpiece of Japanese painting, Shōhaku visualizes his version of an old Chinese legend.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

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

In a new series, she ponders, visualizes and plays with the experience of being a woman while, as she puts it, “rejecting traditional expectations of womanhood.”

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 26, 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 Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

As he visualized Obi-Wan’s sacrifice and the Mos Eisley cantina, he drew associations between sounds and environments that have informed his creative choices ever since.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

“Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages” explores how the biblical concept of Genesis has been interpreted and visualized across time, starting with artists making work during the Middle Ages.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026

Inside a superconductor, these microscopic processes cannot be easily tracked or visualized.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 23, 2025

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

I visualized how I would stand on my toes, the sooner to see his face.

From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

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

Directly visualizing how MraZ interacts with the promoter DNA that initiates cell division represents a significant breakthrough.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2026

“Pretty much everyone’s visualizing the course turn for turn at this point,” U.S. downhill racer Sam Morse said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026

“This is a different way of visualizing music and embracing the way it feeds the eyes,” Ms. Chan writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

In visualizing him one saw always a picture of dimpled knees and sleeves rolled back from pudgy forearms.

From "1984" by George Orwell

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Related Words

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