Definition of 'imaginary'
adjective
An imaginary person, place, or thing exists only in your mind or in a story, and not in real life.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
imaginary in American English
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Derived forms
imaginarily (iˈmagiˌnarily)
adverb
imaginariness (iˈmagiˌnariness)
noun
Word origin
L imaginariusWord Frequency
imaginary in American English
(ɪˈmædʒəˌneri) (noun plural -ries)
adjective
SYNONYMS 1. fanciful, visionary, shadowy, chimerical, baseless, illusory.ANTONYMS 1. real.1.
existing only in the imagination or fancy; not real; fancied
an imaginary illness
the imaginary animals in the stories of Dr. Seuss
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
imaginarily adverb
imaginariness
noun
Word origin
[1350–1400; ME ‹ L imāginārius, equiv. to imāgin-, (s. of imāgō) image + -ārius -ary]Word Frequency
imaginary in British English
adjective
1.
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
imaginarily (imˈaginarily) adverb
imaginariness (imˈaginariness)
noun
Examples of 'imaginary' in a sentence
imaginary
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imaginary
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In other languages
imaginary
British English: imaginary
/ɪˈmædʒɪnərɪ/ ADJECTIVE
An imaginary person, place, or thing exists only in your mind or in a story, and not in real life.
Lots of children have imaginary friends.
- American English: imaginary /ɪˈmædʒɪnɛri/
- Arabic: خَيَالِيٌّ
- Brazilian Portuguese: imaginário
- Chinese: 假想的
- Croatian: izmišljen
- Czech: pomyslný
- Danish: indbildt
- Dutch: denkbeeldig
- European Spanish: imaginario
- Finnish: kuviteltu
- French: imaginaire
- German: imaginär
- Greek: φανταστικός
- Italian: immaginario
- Japanese: 想像の
- Korean: 상상의
- Norwegian: innbilt
- Polish: urojony
- European Portuguese: imaginário
- Romanian: imaginar
- Russian: воображаемый
- Spanish: imaginario
- Swedish: inbillad
- Thai: ซึ่งสมมุติขึ้น, ซึ่งอยู่ในจินตนาการ, ซึ่งอยู่ในความคิดฝัน
- Turkish: hayali
- Ukrainian: уявний
- Vietnamese: không có thật
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imaginary
Related terms of
imaginary
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Definition of imaginary from the Collins English Dictionary
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