imagination
part of speech
noun (imagination, imaginations)
meaning for a pupil
1) The ability to make pictures, ideas and stories in your mind about things that are not real or not present. tree →
2) The ability to think of new and clever ideas. tree →
3) Something that is only in your mind: «It's just your imagination». tree →
sense in the lessons
In school: creative writing, art and play need imagination; teachers say «use your imagination». In science imagination helps scientists think of ideas to test. «It's just your imagination» tells you a fear or idea is not real. Phrases: «use your imagination», «a vivid/lively imagination», «capture someone's imagination», «leave little to the imagination».
examples
- Use your imagination to write a story about a dragon. tree →
- She has a wonderful imagination. tree →
- The noise in the dark was just my imagination. tree →
- The book captured the children's imagination. tree →
- With a bit of imagination, a box becomes a spaceship. tree →
- Einstein said imagination is important for scientists. tree →
- Children's imaginations are full of monsters and fairies. tree →
- And this was enough to excite Jurgen's imagination. tree →
note
Usually uncountable; countable when talking about several people's minds: «their imaginations». Verb: imagine; adjectives: imaginary (not real), imaginative (full of ideas) — do not mix them up.
In the corpora
- Paintings of history often mix fact, legend and the painter's imagination.
- "Vivid imagination" on a report can mean the pupil tells fibs or daydreams.
- Very young children still mix up wishing, pretending and what really happened, so their tall tales are imagination, not wicked lies.
- Only children often fill the quiet with imagination.
- Their eyes stand forth from fatness; they are gone beyond the imaginations of their heart.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «imagination» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.