- [uncountable, countable] the ability to create pictures in your mind; the part of your mind that does this
- a vivid/fertile imagination
- He has no imagination.
- It doesn't take much imagination to guess what she meant.
- I won't tell you his reaction—I'll leave that to your imagination.
- Don't let your imagination run away with you (= don't use too much imagination).
- The new policies appear to have captured the imagination of the public (= they find them interesting and exciting)
- His stories really stretch children’s imaginations.
- in your imagination Nobody hates you—it's all in your imagination.
- This is an image which persists in the popular imagination.
- (informal) Use your imagination! (= used to tell somebody that they will have to guess the answer to the question they have asked you, usually because it is obvious or embarrassing)
Extra Examples- Dinosaurs caught and have held the imagination of us all because they seem like dragons.
- His imagination conjured up a vision of the normal family life he had never had.
- I don't have a picture of this, so you'll just have to use your imagination.
- It's just a product of your fevered imagination!
- Not by any stretch of the imagination could the town be called beautiful.
- The figure vanished as silently as if it had simply been a figment of her imagination.
- The film haunted the imaginations of viewers.
- The scale of the disaster defied imagination.
- Victorian writers fired the popular imagination with their tales of adventure.
- Was it only her imagination playing tricks on her?
- The pyramids retain a remarkable hold on the human imagination.
- She has a vivid imagination.
- How these characters have caught the imagination of children is unbelievable.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- great
- active
- creative
- …
- have
- show
- lack
- …
- conjure something up
- play tricks on you
- run away with you
- …
- beyond (your) imagination
- in the/your imagination
- with imagination
- …
- a lack of imagination
- a figment of somebody’s imagination
- a product of somebody’s imagination
- …
- [uncountable] something that you have imagined rather than something that exists
- She was no longer able to distinguish between imagination and reality.
- Is it my imagination or have you lost a lot of weight?
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- great
- active
- creative
- …
- have
- show
- lack
- …
- conjure something up
- play tricks on you
- run away with you
- …
- beyond (your) imagination
- in the/your imagination
- with imagination
- …
- a lack of imagination
- a figment of somebody’s imagination
- a product of somebody’s imagination
- …
- [uncountable] (approving) the ability to have new and exciting ideas
- His writing lacks imagination.
- With a little imagination, you could turn this place into a palace.
- We are looking for someone with ingenuity and imagination.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- great
- active
- creative
- …
- have
- show
- lack
- …
- conjure something up
- play tricks on you
- run away with you
- …
- beyond (your) imagination
- in the/your imagination
- with imagination
- …
- a lack of imagination
- a figment of somebody’s imagination
- a product of somebody’s imagination
- …
Word OriginMiddle English: via Old French from Latin imaginatio(n-), from the verb imaginari ‘picture to oneself’, from imago, imagin- ‘image’.
Idioms
See imagination in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee imagination in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishleave nothing/little to the imagination
- (of clothes) to allow more of somebody’s body to be seen than usual
- Her tight-fitting dress left nothing to the imagination.
not by any stretch of the imagination | by no stretch of the imagination
- used to say strongly that something is not true, even if you try to imagine or believe it
- She could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be called beautiful.
- By no stretch of the imagination could the trip be described as relaxing.
Check pronunciation:
imagination