English

Verb

imagine ‎(third-person singular simple present imagines, present participle imagining, simple past and past participle imagined)

1. (transitive) To form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one's mind.
   • Shakespeare

     In the night, imagining some fear, / How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

   • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:

     Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.

   Try to imagine a pink elephant.‎

2. (transitive) To believe in something created by one's own mind.

   She imagined that the man wanted to kill her.‎

3. (transitive) To assume.

   I imagine that he will need to rest after such a long flight.‎

4. (transitive) To conjecture or guess.

   I cannot even imagine what you are up to!‎

   The board imagines the merger will increase profits by 25%‎

5. (intransitive) To use one's imagination.

   Imagine that we were siblings.‎

6. (transitive, obsolete) To contrive in purpose; to scheme; to devise.
   • Bible, Psalms lxii. 3

     How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• ween

Derived terms

Related terms

• image
• imagery
• imago

Translations

French

Verb

imagine

1. first-person singular present indicative of imaginer
2. third-person singular present indicative of imaginer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of imaginer
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of imaginer
5. second-person singular imperative of imaginer

Latin

Noun

imāgine

1. ablative singular of imāgō

Portuguese

Verb

imagine

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of imaginar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of imaginar
3. first-person singular imperative of imaginar
4. third-person singular imperative of imaginar

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin imago, imaginem, French image.

Noun

imagine f ‎(plural imagini)

1. image

Declension

Related terms

• imagina

See also

• poză

Spanish

Verb

imagine

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of imaginar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of imaginar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of imaginar.