ability of the mind to create mental images which do not literally exist; creation of such mental images
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Imagination Definition from Arts & Humanities Dictionaries & Glossaries
the faculty responsible for forming concepts out of the 'manifold of intuition' and for synthesizing intuitions with concepts to form objects which are ready to be judged.
Traditionally, the mental capacity for experiencing, constructing, or manipulating 'mental imagery' (quasi-perceptual experience). Imagination is also regarded as responsible for fantasy, inventiveness, idiosyncrasy, and creative, original, and insightful thought in general, and, sometimes, for a much wider range of mental activities dealing with the non-actual, such as supposing, pretending, 'seeing as', thinking of possibilities, and even being mistaken. See representation .
<Discussion > <References > Nigel J.T. Thomas
<Discussion > <References > Nigel J.T. Thomas
[A123] Kant writes that "the imagination is a faculty of a priori synthesis". The transcendental function of the imagination "aims at nothing but necessary unity in the synthesis of what is manifold in appearance". Without this action, there could be no "unitary experience" and thus "experience itself...[is] possible only by means of this transcendental function of the imagination". [B152] Kant asserts that the synthesis of the imagination conforms to the categories, that the imagination is "a faculty which determines the sensibility a priori", and that this transcendental imagination "is spontaneity" and is "an action of the understanding on the sensibility". He also calls the transcendental imagination the productive imagination, which he distinguishes from the reproductive imagination ("whose synthesis is entirely subject to empirical laws"), which falls within the domain "not of transcendental philosophy but of psychology".
Imagination Definition from Language, Idioms & Slang Dictionaries & Glossaries
(n.)
The representative power; the power to reconstruct or recombine the materials furnished by direct apprehension; the complex faculty usually termed the plastic or creative power; the fancy.
The representative power; the power to reconstruct or recombine the materials furnished by direct apprehension; the complex faculty usually termed the plastic or creative power; the fancy.
(n.)
The power to recombine the materials furnished by experience or memory, for the accomplishment of an elevated purpose; the power of conceiving and expressing the ideal.
The power to recombine the materials furnished by experience or memory, for the accomplishment of an elevated purpose; the power of conceiving and expressing the ideal.
(n.)
The imagine-making power of the mind; the power to create or reproduce ideally an object of sense previously perceived; the power to call up mental imagines.
The imagine-making power of the mind; the power to create or reproduce ideally an object of sense previously perceived; the power to call up mental imagines.
(n.)
A mental image formed by the action of the imagination as a faculty; a conception; a notion.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), edited by Noah Porter. AboutA mental image formed by the action of the imagination as a faculty; a conception; a notion.
imagination
\im*ag`i*na"tion\ (?), n. [oe. imaginacionum, f. imagination, fr. l. imaginatio. see imagine.]
1. the imagine-making power of the mind; the power to create or reproduce ideally an object of sense previously perceived; the power to call up mental imagines. our simple apprehension of corporeal objects, if present, is sense; if absent, is imagination. imagination is of three kinds: joined with belief of that which is to come; joined with memory of that which is past; and of things present, or as if they were present.
2. the representative power; the power to reconstruct or recombine the materials furnished by direct apprehension; the complex faculty usually termed the plastic or creative power; the fancy. the imagination of common language -- the productive imagination of philosophers -- is nothing but the representative process plus the process to which i would give the name of the "comparative." w. hamilton. the power of the mind to decompose its conceptions, and to recombine the elements of them at its pleasure, is called its faculty of imagination. taylor. the business of conception is to present us with an exact transcript of what we have felt or perceived. but we have moreover a power of modifying our conceptions, by combining the parts of different ones together, so as to form new wholes of our creation. i shall employ the word imagination to express this power.
3. the power to recombine the materials furnished by experience or memory, for the accomplishment of an elevated purpose; the power of conceiving and expressing the ideal. the lunatic, the lover, and the poet are of imagination all compact the poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, and as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet's pen turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name.
4. a mental image formed by the action of the imagination as a faculty; a conception; a notion.
similar words(1)
imagination image
Imagination, (n.)
A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership.
The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce, 1911 (About)A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership.
Noun
1. the formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses; "popular imagination created a world of demons"; "imagination reveals what the world could be"
(synonym) imaginativeness, vision
(hypernym) creativity, creativeness, creative thinking
(hyponym) imaginary place, mythical place
(derivation) imagine, conceive of, ideate, envisage
2. the ability to form mental images of things or events; "he could still hear her in his imagination"
(synonym) imaging, imagery, mental imagery
(hypernym) representational process
(hyponym) mind's eye
(derivation) imagine, conceive of, ideate, envisage
3. the ability to deal resourcefully with unusual problems; "a man of resource"
(synonym) resource, resourcefulness
(hypernym) inventiveness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, cleverness
(hyponym) armory, armoury, inventory
Imagination Definition from Social Science Dictionaries & Glossaries
Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.
If one advances confidently in the direction of their dreams, and endeavors to lead a life which they have imagined, they will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
Imagination Definition from Encyclopedia Dictionaries & Glossaries
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses. Imagination is the work of the mind that helps create fantasy. Imagination helps provide meaning to experience and understanding to knowledge; it is a fundamental facility through which people make sense of the world, and it also plays a key role in the learning process. A basic training for imagination is listening to storytelling (narrative), in which the exactness of the chosen words is the fundamental factor to "evoke worlds."
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Imagination! (formerly The Journey Into Imagination pavilion) is a pavilion on the western side of "Future World", one of two themed areas of Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida USA. It holds various imagination-based attractions. It is commonly referred to as The Imagination Institute (a fictional institute that is featured in some of the attractions) or by the name of one of the attractions that it holds. The pavilion has been sponsored by the Eastman Kodak company since it opened with the park in 1982.
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Imagination Definition from Entertainment & Music Dictionaries & Glossaries
Imagination Definition from Religion & Spirituality Dictionaries & Glossaries
Imagination Usually the making of mental pictures; but this is actually merely fancy; imagination is "one of the plastic powers of the higher Soul, the memory of preceding incarnations, which, however, disfigured by the lower Manas, yet rests always on a ground of truth" (TG 153). Imagination is therefore a creative power which, used in conjunction with will, calls forth not only creative forces, but likewise their productions. Thus it can be used for spiritualization and also for the materialization of images conceived in the mind; to bring about the results we desire, whether good or evil. It may become our master, chaining us to the illusions we have created; when, however, we can direct this power and resist its suggestions of fancy, it becomes a powerful instrument in shaping our lives and destiny.
Imagination Definition from Medicine Dictionaries & Glossaries
With the 'I' 
position on the right hand, palm facing the body, touch the little finger to the forehead, and then move the hand up and away in a circular clockwise motion. The hand may also be move up and away without the circular motion.
