French word

imaginaire

Pronunciation

IPA/imaʒinɛʁ/

Meaning

  • adjectiveimaginary

Example

Son ami imaginaire lui parle.

His imaginary friend talks to him.

Illustration for imaginaire (imaginary)

More examples

Le livre décrit un monde imaginaire.

The book describes an imaginary world.

Core concept

A vividly pictured person or world with its reality inside the mind, not in the surrounding world.

Common phrases

  • ami imaginaire

    imaginary friend

  • monde imaginaire

    imaginary world

  • personnage imaginaire

    imaginary character

Similar words

fictif: Fictional and not part of actual events or reality.
irréel: Seeming unreal and not likely to occur in the real world.
inventé: Conceived and created by someone rather than based on an actual event.

Definition in French

Qui n'existe que dans l'esprit, créé par l'imagination et non présent dans la réalité tangible.

Word origin

French imaginaire comes through Old French from Latin imaginarius, built from imago, imaginis, 'image', and it retains the sense of something formed as a mental image.

Usage tips

  • As an adjective, imaginaire has the same singular form for masculine and feminine, but its plural is imaginaires.

Other meanings

  • fictionaladjective
  • fantasticaladjective

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word