imaginary

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: im=ag=i=nar=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

imaginary, a. [L. imaginarius: cf. F. imaginaire.].

 Existing only in imagination or fancy; not real; fancied; visionary; ideal.  [1913 Webster]
"Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer
Imaginary ills and fancied tortures?"  [1913 Webster]

Imaginary calculus See under Calculus. -- Imaginary expression or Imaginary quantity (Alg.), an algebraic expression which involves the impossible operation of taking the square root of a negative quantity; as, , a + b . -- Imaginary points, lines, surfaces, etc. (Geom.), points, lines, surfaces, etc., imagined to exist, although by reason of certain changes of a figure they have in fact ceased to have a real existence.

Syn. -- Ideal; fanciful; chimerical; visionary; fancied; unreal; illusive.

imaginary, n. 

 An imaginary expression or quantity.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

imaginary, adj.
1 existing only in the imagination.
2 Math. being the square root of a negative quantity, and plotted graphically in a direction usu. perpendicular to the axis of real quantities (see REAL(1)).

Derivative

imaginarily adv.

Etymology

ME f. L imaginarius (as IMAGE)

THESAURUS

imaginary

Barmecidal, Barmecide, abstract, air-built, airy, algorismic, algorithmic, aliquot, apparent, apparitional, autistic, cardinal, chimeric, chimerical, cloud-built, deceptive, decimal, delusional, delusionary, delusive, delusory, dereistic, differential, digital, dreamlike, dreamy, erroneous, ethereal, even, exponential, fallacious, false, fancied, fanciful, fantastic, fatuitous, fatuous, fictional, fictitious, fictive, figmental, figural, figurate, figurative, finite, fractional, gaseous, gossamery, hallucinatory, hypothetical, ideal, illusional, illusionary, illusive, illusory, imaginational, imaginative, imagined, immaterial, impair, impossible, infinite, integral, irrational, legendary, logarithmic, logometric, made-up, merely nominal, misleading, mythic, mythical, mythological, negative, nonexistent, not real, notional, numeral, numerary, numerative, numeric, odd, ordinal, ostensible, pair, phantasmagoric, phantasmal, phantasmic, phantom, phantomlike, positive, possible, prime, quixotic, radical, rarefied, rational, real, reciprocal, seeming, self-deceptive, self-deluding, shadowy, specious, spectral, spirituous, submultiple, subtile, subtle, supposititious, surd, tenuous, transcendental, unactual, unfounded, unreal, unrealistic, unsubstantial, untrue, vaporous, visional, visionary, windy

ROGET THESAURUS

imaginary

Number

N number, symbol, numeral, figure, cipher, digit, integer, counter, round number, formula, function, series, sum, difference, complement, subtrahend, product, multiplicand, multiplier, multiplicator, coefficient, multiple, dividend, divisor, factor, quotient, submultiple, fraction, rational number, surd, irrational number, transcendental number, mixed number, complex number, complex conjugate, numerator, denominator, decimal, circulating decimal, repetend, common measure, aliquot part, prime number, prime, relative prime, prime factor, prime pair, reciprocal, totient, binary number, octal number, hexadecimal number, permutation, combination, variation, election, ratio, proportion, comparison, progression, arithmetical progression, geometrical progression, harmonical progression, percentage, permilage, figurate numbers, pyramidal numbers, polygonal numbers, power, root, exponent, index, logarithm, antilogarithm, modulus, base, differential, integral, fluxion, fluent, numeral, complementary, divisible, aliquot, reciprocal, prime, relatively prime, fractional, decimal, figurate, incommensurable, proportional, exponential, logarithmic, logometric, differential, fluxional, integral, totitive, positive, negative, rational, irrational, surd, radical, real, complex, imaginary, finite, infinite, impossible, numerically, modulo.

Imagination

N imagination, originality, invention, fancy, inspiration, verve, warm imagination, heated imagination, excited imagination, sanguine imagination, ardent imagination, fiery imagination, boiling imagination, wild imagination, bold imagination, daring imagination, playful imagination, lively imagination, fertile imagination, fancy, mind's eye, such stuff as dreams are made of, ideality, idealism, romanticism, utopianism, castle-building, dreaming, phrensy, frenzy, ecstasy, extasy, calenture, reverie, trance, day dream, golden dream, somnambulism, conception, Vorstellung, excogitation, a fine frenzy, cloudland, dreamland, flight of fancy, fumes of fancy, thick coming fancies, creation of the brain, coinage of the brain, imagery, conceit, maggot, figment, myth, dream, vision, shadow, chimera, phantasm, phantasy, fantasy, fancy, whim, whimsey, whimsy, vagary, rhapsody, romance, gest, geste, extravaganza, air drawn dagger, bugbear, nightmare, flying Dutchman, great sea serpent, man in the moon, castle in the air, pipe dream, pie-in-the-sky, chateau en Espagne, Utopia, Atlantis, happy valley, millennium, fairyland, land of Prester John, kindgom of Micomicon, work of fiction, Arabian nights, le pot au lait, dream of Alnashar, illusion, phantom, Fata Morgana, vapor, stretch of the imagination, mythogenesis, idealist, romanticist, visionary, mopus, romancer, dreamer, somnambulist, rhapsodist, castle-buildier, fanciful projector, imagined, ben trovato, air drawn, airbuilt, imagining, imaginative, original, inventive, creative, fertile, romantic, high flown, flighty, extravagant, fanatic, enthusiastic, unrealistic, Utopian, Quixotic, ideal, unreal, in the clouds, in nubibus, unsubsantial, illusory, fabulous, legendary, mythical, mythic, mythological, chimerical, imaginary, visionary, notional, fancy, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, whimsical, fairy, fairy-like, gestic, a change came o'er the spirit of my dream, aegri somnia vana, dolphinum appingit sylvis in fluctibus aprum, fancy light from fancy caught, imagination rules the world, l'imagination gallope, le jugement ne va que le pas, musaeo contingens cuncta lepore, tous songes sont mensonges, Wahrheil und Dichtung, DIVISION II COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS.