IMAGINE


Meaning of IMAGINE in English

i ‧ ma ‧ gine S1 W2 /ɪˈmædʒən, ɪˈmædʒɪn/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]

[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ imaginable ≠ ↑ unimaginable , ↑ imaginary , ↑ imaginative ≠ ↑ unimaginative , ↑ unimagined ; noun : ↑ imagination , ↑ imaginings ; adverb : ↑ unimaginably , ↑ imaginatively ; verb : ↑ imagine ]

[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: French ; Origin: imaginer , from Latin imaginari , from imago ; ⇨ ↑ image ]

1 . to form a picture or idea in your mind about what something could be like

imagine (that)

Imagine that you have just won a million pounds.

Imagine life without hot water.

imagine what/how/why etc

Can you imagine what it’s like when it’s really hot out here in Delhi?

imagine somebody doing something

She could imagine dark-robed figures moving silently along the stone corridors.

(just) imagine doing something

Imagine doing a horrible job like that!

Just imagine going all that way for nothing!

imagine somebody/something as something

He didn’t quite dare to imagine himself as a real artist.

imagine somebody in/with/without etc something

Somehow, I can’t imagine him without a beard.

it’s difficult/easy/possible/impossible etc to imagine something

After such a dry summer, it’s difficult to imagine what rain looks like.

2 . to have a false or wrong idea about something:

Perhaps she’d never really been there at all – perhaps she’d just imagined it.

imagined dangers

imagine (that)

She had imagined that the doctor would be male.

I was surprised when I saw the farm. I had imagined it would be much bigger.

imagine something/somebody to be something

There’s nobody here. You’re just imagining things.

3 . [not in progressive] to think that something is true or may happen, but without being sure or having proof:

‘A very complicated subject, I imagine,’ said Edwin.

imagine (that)

You are obviously tired and I imagine that nothing would make you admit it.

4 . you can/can’t imagine something British English spoken used to emphasize how good, bad etc something is

You can/can’t imagine how/what/why etc

You can imagine how angry I was!

You can’t imagine what a terrible week we had.

• • •

COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 1 )

■ phrases

▪ be easy to imagine

It’s easy to imagine how the change in the law caused a lot of confusion.

▪ be hard/difficult to imagine

It’s hard to imagine the suffering she must have gone through.

▪ can easily imagine

I can easily imagine how frightening the accident must have been.

▪ can well imagine (=can easily imagine)

I can well imagine how delighted you were with the news.

▪ can hardly/scarcely imagine (=find it difficult to imagine)

He could scarcely imagine what living in such poor conditions must have been like.

▪ can’t/couldn’t imagine

He couldn’t imagine life without his wife.

▪ what somebody had imagined (=what someone thought something would be like, before they saw it or experienced it)

The office was not what he had imagined.

▪ be bigger/smaller/worse etc than you had imagined

The job interview proved to be much worse than I had imagined it would be.

▪ let us imagine … (=used to encourage someone else to think about a possibility)

Let us imagine that you are an employer who wants to recruit some new staff.

▪ somebody is imagining things (=someone has a false or wrong idea about something)

She’s imagining things if she thinks she has a chance of winning the prize.

■ adverbs

▪ naively imagine (=to imagine something without realizing how complicated the situation is)

She had naively imagined that marriage would solve all her problems.

▪ fondly imagine (=to believe something that is untrue)

He had fondly imagined that she was in love with him.

• • •

THESAURUS

▪ imagine to form a picture or idea in your mind about what something might be like:

When I think of Honolulu, I imagine long white beaches and palm trees.

|

I can’t really imagine being a millionaire.

▪ visualize to form a picture of someone or something in your mind, especially something that is definitely going to happen or exist in the future:

Anna visualized meeting Greg again at the airport.

|

The finished house may be hard to visualize.

▪ picture to form a clear picture of something or someone in your mind:

I can still picture my father, even though he died a long time ago.

|

The town was just how she had pictured it from his description.

▪ envisage /ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/ especially British English , envision to imagine something as possible or likely to happen in the future:

How do you envisage your career developing over the next ten years?

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They had envisioned the creation of a single armed force, small but efficient.

▪ conceive of something formal to imagine a situation, especially one that is difficult to imagine:

For many people, music is so important that they cannot conceive of life without it.

▪ fantasize to imagine something exciting that you would like to happen, but that is very unlikely to happen:

I used to fantasize about becoming a film star.

▪ daydream to imagine pleasant things, so that you forget where you are and what you should be doing:

Mark began to daydream, and didn’t even hear the teacher’s question.

▪ hallucinate to imagine that you are seeing things that are not really there, especially because you are ill or have taken drugs:

The drug that can cause some people to hallucinate.

|

When I saw the walls moving, I thought I must be hallucinating.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.