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.

---

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)

---

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 laughed trying to visualize what she said.

From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026

In situations where she is doing a new stunt for the first time, Dalton tries to visualize everything that can go wrong and prepare to react to it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

These risks include a Chernobyl-like or Chinese wet market accident—a mass disruption event in a form we might not even be able to visualize right now.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

These mantras helped me visualize the future, to see myself winning.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad

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

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

From Scientific American ● Oct. 18, 2023

I’m drawn to how your work visualizes not only this dispossession but the informal, affective narratives that can’t be taken away or possessed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2023

One visualizes the thing afterwards as a white-hot gash, worming all across France between intolerable sounds and lights, under ceaseless blasts of whirled dirt.

From France at War On the Frontier of Civilization by Rudyard Kipling

I would see his name credited as a writer and I always visualized that someday I wanted to be in the back cover of an album.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026

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 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

When I had thought of heaven as a child, I visualized Papa’s room, the softness, the creaminess, the endlessness.

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Motivated by both needs, researchers at Kyoto University developed a new technique for visualizing this difficult-to-observe region.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

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

“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 this case, Fischer was not only visualizing a game without benefit of board, pieces, or printed score; he was creating it, composing it as a motion picture in his mind.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Related Words

• anticipate
• dream up
• envision