imagination English · revision 6262

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1340|origins=la imago}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪˌmæd͡ʒəˈneɪʃən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English imaginacioun, [[bor|fro|imaginacion|t=concept, mental picture]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) from [[la|imāginātio|t=imagination, a fancy]], from [[m|la|imāginor|alt=imāginārī|t=to picture to oneself]] (see [[imagine]]), from [[m|la|imāgo|t=image, likeness]] (see [[image]]).^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The faculty of the mind that forms images or concepts of things not present: 1340 in the OED, the mid-14th century in Etymonline;^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) the action of imagining is from before 1340.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Scheming or devising a plot is from about 1385, now obsolete,^(OED 1989) and fanciful thought from about 1386.^(OED 1989) The creative faculty in its highest form, the power to frame new ideas, as of poets, is from 1509.^(OED 1989) Expectation of what is likely was a 17th-century sense.^(OED 1989) Resourcefulness in dealing with problems is a modern use.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1340 – the faculty of forming images.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1385 – a scheme or plot (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1509 – the creative faculty.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The ability of the mind to form images and ideas of things not present to the senses.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The ability to be [[creative]] or [[resourceful]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Something imagined; a fancy.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[imaginational]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[imagine]]

+ * [[image]]

+ * [[imaginary]]

+ * [[imaginative]]

+ * [[imitate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}