View source for Imaginary

==English==
{{wikipedia}}

===Etymology===
From {{inh|en|enm|ymaginarie}}, {{m|enm|ymagynary}}, from {{der|en|la|imāginārius||relating to images, fancied}}, from {{m|la|imāgō}}, equivalent to {{suf|en|imagine|ary}}.

The mathematical sense derives from {{w|René Descartes}}'s use (of the French {{m|fr|imaginaire}}) in 1637, ''La Geometrie'', to ridicule the notion of regarding non-real roots of polynomials as numbers.<ref>[http://jeff560.tripod.com/i.html Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (I)]</ref> Although Descartes' usage was derogatory, the designation stuck even after the concept gained acceptance in the 18th century.

===Pronunciation===
* {{IPA|en|/ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪnəɹi/|/ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪnɹi/|a=RP}}
* {{IPA|en|/ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪˌn(ɛ)ɹi/|a=GA}}
* {{audio|en|En-us-imaginary.ogg|a=GA}}
* {{hyphenation|en|im|a|gin|a|ry}}

===Adjective===
{{en-adj}}

# [[exist|Existing]] only in the [[imagination]].
#: {{coi|en|'''imaginary''' friend}}
#: {{ux|en|Unicorns are '''imaginary'''.}}
#* {{RQ:Addison Cato|4|1|passage=Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer / '''Imaginary''' ills and fancied tortures?}}
# {{lb|en|mathematics|of a number}} Having no [[real number|real]] part; that part of a [[complex number]] which is a multiple of <math>\sqrt{-1}</math> (called [[imaginary unit]]).

====Synonyms====
* {{sense|existing only in the imagination}} {{l|en|all in one's head}}

====Derived terms====
{{col4|en
|imaginarily
|imaginariness
|imaginarity
|nonimaginary
|unimaginary
}}
{{col4|en|title=Expressions
|imaginary axis|imaginary museum|quater-imaginary
|imaginary friend
|imaginary geometry
|imaginary lat syndrome
|imaginary number|imaginary time
|imaginary part
|imaginary unit
|[[purely imaginary]] → {{nowrap|[[purely imaginary number]]}}
}}

====Translations====
{{trans-top|existing in the imagination}}
* Afrikaans: {{t|af|denkbeeldig}}, {{t|af|imaginêr}}
* Arabic: {{t+|ar|خِيَّالِيّ}}
* Aragonese: {{t-needed|an}}
* Armenian: {{t+|hy|երեւակայական}}
* Assamese: {{t-needed|as}}
* Asturian: {{t|ast|imaxinariu}}
* Azerbaijani: {{t+|az|xəyali}}, {{t|az|uydurulmuş}}, {{t+|az|uydurma}}, {{t+|az|qondarma}}
* Belarusian: {{t|be|уя́ўны}}, {{t|be|выабража́льны}}, {{t|be|вы́думаны}}
* Bengali: {{t+|bn|কাল্পনিক}}
* Bulgarian: {{t+|bg|въобража́ем}}, {{t+|bg|изми́слен}}
* Catalan: {{t+|ca|imaginari}}
* Cherokee: {{t-needed|chr}}
* Chichewa: {{t-needed|ny}}
* Chinese:
*: Mandarin: {{t+|cmn|幻想|tr=huànxiǎng}}
* Corsican: {{t-needed|co}}
* Czech: {{t+|cs|pomyslný}}, {{t+|cs|imaginární}}
* Danish: {{t|da|imaginær}}, {{t|da|indbildt}}
* Dhivehi: {{t-needed|dv}}
* Dutch: {{t+|nl|denkbeeldig}}, {{t+|nl|ingebeeld}}
* Estonian: {{t|et|imaginaarne}}
* Finnish: {{qualifier|in compounds}} {{t|fi|imaginaari-}}, {{t+|fi|kuvitteellinen}}
* French: {{t+|fr|imaginaire}}
* Galician: {{t+|gl|imaxinario}}
* Georgian: {{t|ka|წარმოსახვითი}}
* German: {{t+|de|eingebildet}}, {{t+|de|imaginär}}
* Greek: {{t+|el|φανταστικός}}
*: Ancient: {{t|grc|φαντασιώδης}}
* Gujarati: {{t-needed|gu}}
* Hausa: {{t-needed|ha}}
* Hawaiian: {{t|haw|moeā}}
* Hebrew: {{t+|he|דִּמְיוֹנִי|tr=dimyoní}}
* Hindi: {{t+|hi|काल्पनिक}}
* Hungarian: {{t+|hu|képzeletbeli}}
* Icelandic: {{t|is|ímyndaður}}
* Ido: {{t+|io|imaginala}}, {{t+|io|imaginita}}, {{t+|io|fiktiva}}
* Igbo: {{t-needed|ig}}
* Indonesian: {{t+|id|khayalan}}, {{t+|id|khayal}}
* Interlingua: {{t|ia|imaginari}}
* Irish: {{t|ga|íomháineach}}, {{t|ga|samhailteach}}, {{t|ga|samhlaithe}}, {{t|ga|samhlaitheach}}, {{t|ga|taibhriúil}}
* Italian: {{t+|it|immaginario}}
* Japanese: {{t+|ja|架空|tr=かくうの, kakū no|alt=架空の}}, {{t+|ja|幻想的|tr=げんそうてきな, gensōteki na|alt=幻想的な}}
* Kazakh: {{t|kk|қиялдағы}}
* Khmer: {{t-check|km|ដែលមានតែក្នុងមនោគតិ}}
* Korean: {{t+|ko|환상적(幻想的)}}, {{t+|ko|가상적(假想敵)}}
* Kurdish:
*: Northern Kurdish: {{t+|kmr|aşopî}}
* Latin: {{t|la|imaginarius}}, {{t|la|phantasticus}}
* Latvian: {{t|lv|iedomāts}}
* Lithuanian: {{t|lt|įsivaizduojamas}}
* Luganda: {{t-needed|lg}}
* Luxembourgish: {{t|lb|imaginär}}
* Macedonian: {{t|mk|имагина́рен}}, {{t|mk|замислен}}
* Malayalam: {{t|ml|സാങ്കൽപ്പിക}}
* Maori: {{t|mi|pohewa}}
* Marathi: {{t|mr|काल्पनिक|n|sc=Deva}}
* Mirandese: {{t|mwl|manginário}}, {{t|mwl|eimaginário}}
* Norwegian:
*: Bokmål: {{t+|nb|tenkt}}, {{t+|nb|imaginær}}, {{t|nb|innbilt}}
*: Nynorsk: {{t|nn|tenkt}}
* Pashto: {{t-needed|ps}}
* Persian: {{t+|fa|خیالی|tr=xiyâli}}
* Piedmontese: {{t|pms|imaginari}}
* Polish: {{t+|pl|zmyślony}}, {{t+|pl|umowny}}, {{t|pl|imaginacyjny}}
* Portuguese: {{t+|pt|imaginário}}
* Punjabi: {{t-needed|pa}}
* Romanian: {{t+|ro|imaginar}}, {{t+|ro|închipuit}}
* Russian: {{t+|ru|вообража́емый}}, {{t+|ru|мни́мый}}, {{t+|ru|вы́мышленный}}, {{t+|ru|вы́думанный}}
* Scots: {{t-needed|sco}}
* Scottish Gaelic: {{t|gd|mac-meanmnach}}
* Serbo-Croatian:
*: Cyrillic: {{t|sh|и̏магина̄ран}}, {{t|sh|ѝзмишљен}}
*: Roman: {{t+|sh|ȉmagināran}}, {{t+|sh|ìzmišljen}}
* Sicilian: {{t-needed|scn}}
* Sindhi: {{t-needed|sd}}
* Sinhalese: {{t-needed|si}}
* Slovak: {{t|sk|pomyselný}}, {{t|sk|imaginárny}}
* Slovene: {{t|sl|namišljen}}, {{t+|sl|imaginaren}}, {{t|sl|navidezen}}
* Somali: {{t-needed|so}}
* Spanish: {{t+|es|imaginario}}
* Swahili: {{t|sw|-a kubuni}}
* Swedish: {{t+|sv|imaginär}}, {{t+|sv|inbillad}}
* Tajik: {{t|tg|хаёлӣ}}
* Tamil: {{t-needed|ta}}
* Telugu: {{t-needed|te}}
* Thai: {{t|th|จินตภาพ}}
* Turkish: {{t+|tr|sanal}}, {{t+|tr|hayalî}}
* Turkmen: {{t-needed|tk}}
* Ukrainian: {{t|uk|уя́вний}}, {{t|uk|ви́гаданий}}
* Welsh: {{t+|cy|dychmygol}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-top|non-real part of a complex number}}
* Afrikaans: {{t|af|imaginêr}}
* Basque: {{t|eu|irudikari}}
* Bulgarian: {{t+|bg|имагине́рен}}
* Czech: {{t+|cs|imaginární|m}}
* Dutch: {{t+|nl|imaginair}}
* Finnish: {{t+|fi|imaginaarinen}}, {{qualifier|in compounds}} {{t|fi|imaginaari-}}
* Galician: {{t+|gl|imaxinario}}
* German: {{t+|de|imaginär}}
* Greek: {{t+|el|φανταστικός}}
* Hungarian: {{t+|hu|imaginárius}}, {{t+|hu|képzetes}}
* Indonesian: {{t+|id|imajiner}}
* Latvian: {{t+|lv|imaginārs}}
* Polish: {{t|pl|urojona|f}}
* Portuguese: {{t+|pt|imaginário}}
* Russian: {{t+|ru|мни́мый}}
* Spanish: {{t+|es|imaginario}}
* Swedish: {{t+|sv|imaginär}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===Noun===
{{tea room|en|m=August|y=2023}}
{{en-noun}}

# [[imagination|Imagination]]; [[fancy]]. {{defdate|from 16th c.}}
#* {{quote-text|en|year=2002|author={{w|Colin Jones (historian)|Colin Jones}}|title=The Great Nation| page=324| publisher=Penguin| year_published=2003| passage=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.}}
# {{lb|en|mathematics|countable}} An [[imaginary number]]. {{defdate|from 18th c.}}
# {{lb|en|sociology}} 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. {{defdate|from c. 1975}}
#* {{quote-book|en|title=Visionary Appropriation| page=145| author=John Derrickson McCurdy| year=1978| passage=The sensory media are sensuous materials which prolong our bodily life into the surrounding world, and hence the media are '''imaginaries'''. These perceptually penetrated materials are " imaginaries " because they operate here in our living body {{...}}.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|title=Soldier Heroes: British Adventure, Empire, and the Imagining ... | author=Graham Dawson| year=1994| page=51| text=For example, colonial motifs of many kinds became increasingly central to the British national '''imaginary''' from the mid-nineteenth century, while the imaginative significance of 'the soldier' has long been derived from, and helped to sustain, the linkage between national and military '''imaginaries'''.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|year=2015 |title=Goethe Yearbook 22 |author=Adrian Daub; Elisabeth Krimmer |page=96 |passage=While Oil, its extraction, and the global petroculture and its role in transforming the planet's climate undoubtedly play a crucial role in the Antropocene '''imaginary'''&nbsp;— to the extent that petrofiction has been construed not just as a genre but as a periodizing gesture of "petromodernity"&nbsp; — it would hamper both the imagination and the root of petrofiction to restrict the range of this term to the encounter with fossil fuels within a carbon '''imaginary'''.  }}

===References===
<references />