imaginative

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɪˈmædʒənətɪv/ UK /ɪˈmædʒɪnətɪv/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
having or showing creativity and inventiveness

The children wrote wonderfully imaginative stories.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · having or showing... creative inventive ingenious original visionary resourceful

Opposites

unimaginative dull prosaic unoriginal

Word family

Derived forms imaginatively imaginativeness

Related forms imagine imagination imaginable

Etymology

From Old French imaginatif, from Medieval Latin imaginativus, from Latin imaginari ('to picture to oneself'), from imago ('image, likeness').

imaginari Latin imago Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# imaginative

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɪˈmædʒənətɪv/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪˈmædʒɪnətɪv/

## Meanings
1. having or showing creativity and inventiveness

## Examples
- The children wrote wonderfully imaginative stories.

## Synonyms
- creative
- inventive
- ingenious
- original
- visionary
- resourceful

## Antonyms
- unimaginative
- dull
- prosaic
- unoriginal

## Derived Forms
- imaginatively
- imaginativeness

## Related Forms
- imagine
- imagination
- imaginable

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: imaginari
- Root: imago
- Affix: -ative - tending to

## Etymology
From Old French imaginatif, from Medieval Latin imaginativus, from Latin imaginari ('to picture to oneself'), from imago ('image, likeness').

## AI Etymology
imaginative comes from Old French imaginatif, from Medieval Latin imaginativus, from Latin imaginari ('to picture to oneself'), from imago ('image, likeness'). The path is chiefly one of transmission: the word passes through the named languages and forms, with each stage preserving part of the modern shape. In present English, the adjective sense is "having or showing creativity and inventiveness", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as imagine, imagination, and imaginable, and in derivatives such as imaginatively and imaginativeness. Its semantic neighborhood includes creative, inventive, ingenious, and original, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin imaginari and Latin imago.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown