Lexic.us

Definition of Imaginary

1. Adjective. Not based on fact; unreal. "To create a notional world for oneself"

2. Noun. (mathematics) a number of the form a+bi where a and b are real numbers and i is the square root of -1.

Definition of Imaginary

1. a. Existing only in imagination or fancy; not real; fancied; visionary; ideal.

2. n. An imaginary expression or quantity.

Definition of Imaginary

1. Adjective. existing only in the imagination ¹

2. Adjective. (mathematics) of a number, having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of the square root of -1. ¹

3. Noun. Imagination; fancy. (defdate from 16th c.) ¹

4. Noun. (mathematics) An imaginary quantity. (defdate from 18th c.) ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Imaginary

1. [n -RIES]

Medical Definition of Imaginary

1. Existing only in imagination or fancy; not real; fancied; visionary; ideal. "Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer Imaginary ills and fancied tortures?" (Addison) Imaginary expression or quantity, points, lines, surfaces, etc, imagined to exist, although by reason of certain changes of a figure they have in fact ceased to have a real existence. Synonym: Ideal, fanciful, chimerical, visionary, fancied, unreal, illusive. Origin: L. Imaginarius: cf. F. Imaginaire. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Imaginary

images imagesetter imagesetters imagin imagin'd imaginability imaginable imaginableness imaginably imaginal

imaginal disc imaginaries imaginarily imaginariness imaginarinesses imaginary (current term) imaginary axis imaginary being imaginary creature imaginary number

imaginary numbers imaginary part imaginary part of a complex number imaginary parts imaginary place imaginary unit imaginary units imaginate imagination imagination image

Literary usage of Imaginary

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Dictionary of National Biography by LESLIE. STEPHEN, Sidney Lee (1890)
"Not long after Graves was elected an examiner in laws in the university of London. he had elucidated the subject of the rithms of negative and imaginary ..."

2. The American Mathematical Monthly by Mathematical Association of America (1922)
"treatment of imaginary and complex numbers is in no instance free from logical inconsistency. A discrepancy is usually found before the following four items ..."

3. Projective Geometry by Oswald Veblen, John Wesley Young (1918)
"An imaginary line of the second kind is a directrix of an elliptic congruence. ... The relations between the imaginary lines of the second kind and the ..."

4. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"... inside of a circle two imaginary tangents may be drawn to the -circle. ... and two fixed imaginary points on i, Л and I,, on the other. ..."

5. The Nature and Sources of the Law by John Chipman Gray, Roland Gray (1921)
"courts the arguments of counsel have always abounded in imaginary instances, ... The argument from analogy which fosters the use of imaginary cases ..."

6. Projective Geometry by Linneaus Wayland Dowling (1917)
"The conjugate imaginary point is defined by reading the given pairs in reverse ... As an immediate consequence of this definition: Two conjugate imaginary ..."

7. The Number-system of Algebra: Treated Theoretically and Historically by Henry Burchard Fine (1890)
"First Appearance of the imaginary. But the general equation presented other problems than the ... The imaginary is now ready to make common cause with it. ..."

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