imagination

[ih-maj-uh-ney-shuh n] /ɪˌmædʒ əˈneɪ ʃən/
noun
1.
the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.
2.
the action or process of forming such images or concepts.
3.
the faculty of producing ideal creations consistent with reality, as in literature, as distinct from the power of creating illustrative or decorative imagery.
Compare fancy (def 2).
4.
the product of imagining; a conception or mental creation, often a baseless or fanciful one.
5.
ability to face and resolve difficulties; resourcefulness:
a job that requires imagination.
6.
Psychology. the power of reproducing images stored in the memory under the suggestion of associated images (reproductive imagination) or of recombining former experiences in the creation of new images directed at a specific goal or aiding in the solution of problems (creative imagination)
7.
(in Kantian epistemology) synthesis of data from the sensory manifold into objects by means of the categories.
8.
Archaic. a plan, scheme, or plot.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English < Latin imāginātiōn- (stem of imāginātiō) fancy, equivalent to imāgināt(us) past participle of imāginārī to imagine (imāgin-, stem of imāgō image + -ātus -ate1) + -iōn- -ion
Related forms
imaginational, adjective
nonimaginational, adjective
Synonyms
3. See fancy. 5. ingenuity, enterprise, thought.
Examples from the web for imagination
  • They opened my eyes to the raw power of the imagination.
  • Obviously, there is no limit to power of human imagination.
  • It is no wonder solar power has captured the public imagination.
  • It was one of those moments when you realize the power of fear and the imagination.
  • They extol the increasing stability of the economy, the growing power of consumers, the energy and imagination of entrepreneurs.
  • The only toys that will keep kids occupied are the ones that they can use their imagination to create or design things with.
  • But the ideas, the imagination are triggering the century compiled collective knowledge and power in this symbolic language.
  • imagination is the power of depicting, and fancy of evoking and combining.
  • And to imagine that it does not create its own set of problems is true imagination.
  • He also had a lot of imagination and knew how to apply it.
British Dictionary definitions for imagination

imagination

/ɪˌmædʒɪˈneɪʃən/
noun
1.
the faculty or action of producing ideas, esp mental images of what is not present or has not been experienced
2.
mental creative ability
3.
the ability to deal resourcefully with unexpected or unusual problems, circumstances, etc
4.
(in romantic literary criticism, esp that of S. T. Coleridge) a creative act of perception that joins passive and active elements in thinking and imposes unity on the poetic material Compare fancy (sense 9)
Derived Forms
imaginational, adjective
Word Origin and History for imagination
n.

"faculty of the mind which forms and manipulates images," mid-14c., ymaginacion, from Old French imaginacion "concept, mental picture; hallucination," from Latin imaginationem (nominative imaginatio) "imagination, a fancy," noun of action from past participle stem of imaginari (see imagine).

Idioms and Phrases with imagination

imagination

see: figment of one's imagination