Imaginary

English

Etymology

From Template:Inh, Template:M, from Template:Der, from Template:M, equivalent to Template:Suf.

The mathematical sense derives from Template:W's use (of the French Template:M) in 1637, La Geometrie, to ridicule the notion of regarding non-real roots of polynomials as numbers. Although Descartes' usage was derogatory, the designation stuck even after the concept gained acceptance in the 18th century.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

1. Existing only in the imagination.

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2. Template:Lb Having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of $\sqrt{-1}$ (called imaginary unit).

Synonyms

• Template:Sense Template:L

Translations

• Afrikaans: Template:T, Template:T
• Arabic: Template:T+
• Aragonese: Template:T-needed
• Armenian: Template:T+
• Assamese: Template:T-needed
• Asturian: Template:T
• Azerbaijani: Template:T+, Template:T, Template:T+, Template:T+
• Belarusian: Template:T, Template:T, Template:T
• Bengali: Template:T+
• Bulgarian: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Catalan: Template:T+
• Cherokee: Template:T-needed
• Chichewa: Template:T-needed
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: Template:T+

• Corsican: Template:T-needed
• Czech: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Danish: Template:T, Template:T
• Dhivehi: Template:T-needed
• Dutch: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Estonian: Template:T
• Finnish: Template:Qualifier Template:T, Template:T+
• French: Template:T+
• Galician: Template:T+
• Georgian: Template:T
• German: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Greek: Template:T+

  Ancient: Template:T

• Gujarati: Template:T-needed
• Hausa: Template:T-needed
• Hawaiian: Template:T
• Hebrew: Template:T+
• Hindi: Template:T+
• Hungarian: Template:T+
• Icelandic: Template:T
• Ido: Template:T+, Template:T+, Template:T+
• Igbo: Template:T-needed
• Indonesian: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Interlingua: Template:T
• Irish: Template:T, Template:T, Template:T, Template:T, Template:T
• Italian: Template:T+
• Japanese: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Kazakh: Template:T
• Khmer: Template:T-check
• Korean: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Template:T+

• Latin: Template:T, Template:T
• Latvian: Template:T
• Lithuanian: Template:T
• Luganda: Template:T-needed
• Luxembourgish: Template:T
• Macedonian: Template:T, Template:T
• Malayalam: Template:T
• Maori: Template:T
• Marathi: Template:T
• Mirandese: Template:T, Template:T
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Template:T+, Template:T+, Template:T

  Nynorsk: Template:T

• Pashto: Template:T-needed
• Persian: Template:T+
• Piedmontese: Template:T
• Polish: Template:T+, Template:T+, Template:T
• Portuguese: Template:T+
• Punjabi: Template:T-needed
• Romanian: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Russian: Template:T+, Template:T+, Template:T+, Template:T+
• Scots: Template:T-needed
• Scottish Gaelic: Template:T
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Template:T, Template:T

  Roman: Template:T+, Template:T+

• Sicilian: Template:T-needed
• Sindhi: Template:T-needed
• Sinhalese: Template:T-needed
• Slovak: Template:T, Template:T
• Slovene: Template:T, Template:T+, Template:T
• Somali: Template:T-needed
• Spanish: Template:T+
• Swahili: Template:T
• Swedish: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Tajik: Template:T
• Tamil: Template:T-needed
• Telugu: Template:T-needed
• Thai: Template:T
• Turkish: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Turkmen: Template:T-needed
• Ukrainian: Template:T, Template:T
• Welsh: Template:T+

• Afrikaans: Template:T
• Basque: Template:T
• Bulgarian: Template:T+
• Czech: Template:T+
• Dutch: Template:T+
• Finnish: Template:T+, Template:Qualifier Template:T
• Galician: Template:T+
• German: Template:T+
• Greek: Template:T+
• Hungarian: Template:T+, Template:T+
• Indonesian: Template:T+
• Latvian: Template:T+
• Polish: Template:T
• Portuguese: Template:T+
• Russian: Template:T+
• Spanish: Template:T+
• Swedish: Template:T+

Noun

1. Imagination; fancy. Template:Defdate
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2. Template:Lb An imaginary number. Template:Defdate
3. Template:Lb 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. Template:Defdate
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