imaginary
adjEtymology
From Middle English ymaginarie, ymagynary, from Latin imāginārius (“relating to images, fancied”), from imāgō, equivalent to imagine + -ary. The mathematical sense derives from René Descartes's use (of the French imaginaire) in 1637, La Geometrie, to ridicule the notion of regarding non-real roots of polynomials as numbers. Although Descartes' usage was derogatory, the designation stuck even after the concept gained acceptance in the 18th century.
- derived from imāginārius
- inherited from ymaginarie
Definitions
Existing only in the imagination.
- imaginary friend
- Unicorns are imaginary.
- Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer / Imaginary ills and fancied tortures?
Having no real part
Having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of √ (called imaginary unit).
Imagination
Imagination; fancy.
- By then too Mozart's opera, from Da Ponte's libretto, had made Figaro a stock character in the European imaginary and set the whole Continent whistling Mozartian airs and chuckling at Figaresque humour.
›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer
An imaginary number.
The set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols common to a particular social group…
The set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols common to a particular social group and the corresponding society through which people imagine their social whole.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at imaginary. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at imaginary. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
9 hops · closes at imaginary
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA