imaginary
imaginary Lexical Profile
imaginary Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Existing only in the imagination; not real or actual.
"As a young child, she often played in the garden with an imaginary friend."
In mathematics, involving or denoting a number or quantity whose square is a negative real number.
"In electrical engineering, alternating current calculations frequently rely on imaginary numbers."
• noun
In sociology and philosophy, the shared set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols through which a social group imagines its collective whole.
"The scholar's new book explores how science fiction shapes the modern cultural imaginary."
An imaginary number or mathematical quantity.
"Early algebraists struggled to accept imaginaries as legitimate solutions to cubic equations."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'imaginary' (unreal, existing only in the mind) with 'imaginative' (having a creative or resourceful imagination) or 'imaginable' (capable of being imagined).
• Rhymes for imaginary
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 14th century from Latin imaginarius ('seeming, fancied, counterfeit'), derived from imago ('an image, likeness').