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Definition of envisage verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

envisage

verb
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/
(especially British English)
(North American English usually envision)
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they envisage
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/
he / she / it envisages
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒɪz/
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒɪz/
past simple envisaged
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒd/
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒd/
past participle envisaged
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒd/
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒd/
-ing form envisaging
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒɪŋ/
 
/ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒɪŋ/
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  1. to imagine what will happen in the future
    • envisage something What level of profit do you envisage?
    • envisage (somebody) doing something I can't envisage her coping with this job.
    • I don’t envisage working with him again.
    • it is envisaged that… It is envisaged that the talks will take place in the spring.
    • envisage that… I envisage that the work will be completed next year.
    • envisage how, where, etc… It is difficult to envisage how people will react.
    Synonyms imagineimaginethink see envisage envisionThese words all mean to form an idea in your mind of what somebody/​something might be like.imagine to form an idea in your mind of what somebody/​something might be like:
    • The house was just as she had imagined it.
    think to imagine something that might happen or might have happened:
    • We couldn’t think where you’d gone.
    • Just think—this time tomorrow we’ll be lying on a beach.
    see to consider something as a future possibility; to imagine somebody as something:
    • I can’t see her changing her mind.
    • His colleagues see him as a future director.
    envisage (especially British English) to imagine what will happen in the future:
    • I don’t envisage working with him again.
    The usual word for this in American English is envision (see below).
    envision to imagine what a situation will be like in the future, especially a situation that you intend to work towards:
    • They envision an equal society, free from poverty and disease.
    Envision is used especially in business and political contexts. In North American English it is also used in the same way as envisage: I don’t envision working with him again.
    Patterns
    • to imagine/​see/​envisage/​envision somebody/​something as something
    • to imagine/​see/​envisage/​envision (somebody) doing something
    • to imagine/​think/​see/​envisage/​envision who/​what/​how…
    • to imagine/​think/​envisage/​envision that…
    Extra Examples
    • I cannot envisage myself playing again next season
    • It was never envisaged that this would be a long-term solution.
    • It was originally envisaged that the talks would take place in the spring.
    • Eventually she did end up involved in politics, but not in the way she had originally envisaged.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • initially
    • originally
    • currently
    verb + envisage
    • can
    • be difficult to
    • be hard to
    phrases
    • envisage yourself doing something
    See full entry
    Word Originearly 19th cent.: from French envisager, from en- ‘in’ + visage ‘face’.
See envisage in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee envisage in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English

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