fancy suggests an imagining often unrestrained by reality but spurred by desires.
fancied himself a super athlete
realize stresses a grasping of the significance of what is conceived or imagined.
realized the enormity of the task ahead
envisage and envision imply a conceiving or imagining that is especially clear or detailed.
envisaged a totally computerized operation
envisioned a cure for the disease
Examples of imagine in a Sentence
a writer who has imagined an entire world of amazing creatures
He asked us to imagine a world without poverty or war.
It's hard for me to imagine having children.
He was imagining all sorts of terrible things happening.
“What was that sound? I think there's someone in the house!” “Oh, you're just imagining things.”
I imagine it will snow at some point today.
It's difficult to imagine that these changes will really be effective.
The company will do better next year, I imagine.
It was worse than they had imagined.
Recent Examples on the WebWell, the film (in select theaters now, expands nationwide Friday) imagines the lives of a family of Sasquatches (aka Bigfoot) over the course of four seasons.—USA TODAY, 18 Apr. 2024 In the fiercely competitive art world, imagine if Picasso helped emerging artists get support like this?—Larry Dvoskin, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2024 This imagined America is studded with names borrowed from the real one: St. Louis might be a mere backwater, but T. S. Eliot is still among its locals.—The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024 They were referred to as Associates and they were encouraged to imagine themselves as ‘Owners’ of their stores who had permission to provide the best service possible.—Chris Gallagher, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2024 The movie imagines a worst-case scenario in which American society unravels beyond comprehension, and centers the frontline journalists trying to make sense of the ensuing chaos.—David Sims, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2024 This would require imagining a new Rwanda that transcended ethnic differences, in which individual endowment, lofty dreams, hard work, and a bit of luck determined one’s fate rather than the accident of birth.—Jonathan M. Hansen, TIME, 7 Apr. 2024 The specialist trauma coach, who served for almost a decade in the Canadian Air Force, works 50 hours a week and can’t imagine life without his work.—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 7 Apr. 2024 Now imagine a future where some Chinese trillionaires decide to help out children in our country.—Leif Wenar, WIRED, 27 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'imagine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English ymagynen, borrowed from Anglo-French ymaginer, borrowed from Latin imāginārī, verbal derivative of imāgin-, imāgō "representation, semblance, image entry 1"
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