imagination

UK: /ɪˌmædʒɪˈneɪʃ^ən/ US: /ɪˌmædʒəˈneɪʃən/ ,(i maj′ə nā′shən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

im•ag•i•na•tion /ɪˌmædʒəˈneɪʃən/   n. 

1. the action of forming or ability to imagine:
   [countable] Fairy tales help develop children's imaginations.
   [uncountable] has lots of imagination.
2. creative talent, esp. the ability to take care of difficulties;
   resourcefulness:
   [uncountable] a job that requires imagination.
3. the product of imagining;
   a mental creation:
   [uncountable] In his imagination the old man was young and strong again.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

im•ag•i•na•tion  (i maj′ə nā′shən), n. 

1. the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.
2. the action or process of forming such images or concepts.
3. the faculty of producing ideal creations consistent with reality, as in literature, as distinct from the power of creating illustrative or decorative imagery. Cf. fancy (def. 2).
4. the product of imagining;
   a conception or mental creation, often a baseless or fanciful one.
5. ability to face and resolve difficulties;
   resourcefulness:
   a job that requires imagination.
6. Psychology the power of reproducing images stored in the memory under the suggestion of associated images (reproductive imagination) or of recombining former experiences in the creation of new images directed at a specific goal or aiding in the solution of problems (creative imagination.)
7. (in Kantian epistemology) synthesis of data from the sensory manifold into objects by means of the categories.
8. [Archaic.] a plan, scheme, or plot.

• Latin imāginātiōn- (stem of imāginātiō) fancy, equivalent. to imāgināt(us) past participle of imāginārī to imagine (imāgin-, stem of imāgō image + -ātus -ate¹) + -iōn- -ion
• Middle English 1300–50

i•mag′i•na′tion•al, adj. 
Synonyms

• 3. See fancy. 
• 5. ingenuity, enterprise, thought.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

imagination / ɪˌmædʒɪˈneɪʃən/ noun

1. the faculty or action of producing ideas, esp mental images of what is not present or has not been experienced
2. mental creative ability
3. the ability to deal resourcefully with unexpected or unusual problems, circumstances, etc
4. (in romantic literary criticism, esp that of S. T. Coleridge) a creative act of perception that joins passive and active elements in thinking and imposes unity on the poetic material
   Compare fancy9