Etymologically
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imaginative

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Pronunciation

  • /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪnətɪv/, /-ənətɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English imaginatif,[2][3] borrowed from Middle French imaginatif,[4][5][2][6] and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin imāginātīvus,[4][2][3][7] from imāginātus, the past participle of imāginor (“to picture to oneself”),[6][2] and the suffix -īvus.[4][3] In Old French the adjective is recorded from about 1298, meaning having a strong imagination.[4] It is related to imagine and imagination.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the imagination as a faculty of the mind: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.[4] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, with the senses "forming images, given to imagining".[2]

Semantic evolution

From about 1405, in Chaucer's Franklin's Tale, the word described a person given to using the imagination;[4] an older sense of this, full of thoughts, plans or devices, is obsolete.[4] From 1517 it also meant existing only in the imagination, unreal, a sense now rare and taken over by imaginary.[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "fantastick; full of imagination".[8] The modern sense, showing a high degree of imagination, is recorded from 1829, in Scott.[4][2] As a noun, the faculty of imagination, imaginative was used from before 1398 to 1641;[4] in Piers Plowman (about 1378) a personification of imagination is called Ymagynatyf.[4] Chapman used imaginous about 1600 for "full of fancies".[2]

Timeline

  • before 1398 – relating to the imagination; also a noun, the faculty of imagination (obsolete by 1641).[4]
  • c. 1405 – of a person, given to imagining, in Chaucer.[4]
  • 1517 – existing only in the imagination, unreal (now rare).[4]
  • 1532 – imaginable (obsolete).[4]
  • 1829 – resulting from or showing imagination.[4][2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having or using a lively, creative imagination: an imaginative young designer.[9][4]
  2. Made or shown with imagination; original and inventive: an imaginative solution to the parking problem.[9][5][4]
  3. Of or relating to the imagination.[5][4]
  4. Drawn from the imagination rather than from known facts.[5]
  5. Able to deal with new or difficult problems; resourceful.[5]

Word family

  • imaginatively
  • imaginativeness
  • overimaginative
  • unimaginative

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins