visionary

C2+ Topic:Time

US /ˈvɪʒəˌnɛri/ UK /ˈvɪʒənəri/ See IPA manual

adj noun

Meanings

1

adj
thinking about the future with imagination or wisdom; a person who does so

The visionary founder foresaw the mobile revolution decades early.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · thinking about the future... prophetic imaginative idealisticfarsightedinspiredutopiandreamer prophet

More seer idealist

Opposites

unimaginative pragmatic shortsighted realist

Word family

Forms visionariness

Derived forms visionariness

Related forms visionvisionalvisionlessvisualize

Etymology

From Latin visio ('a seeing, sight'), from videre ('to see'), via the noun vision plus the adjective-forming suffix -ary.

visio Latin videre Latin *weyd- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

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Time Word Formation & Derivatives

# visionary

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** ˈvɪʒəˌnɛri
**IPA (UK):** ˈvɪʒənəri

## Meanings
1. thinking about the future with imagination or wisdom; a person who does so

## Examples
- The visionary founder foresaw the mobile revolution decades early.

## Synonyms
- prophetic
- imaginative
- idealistic
- farsighted
- inspired
- utopian
- dreamer
- prophet
- seer
- idealist

## Antonyms
- unimaginative
- pragmatic
- shortsighted
- realist

## Derived Forms
- visionariness

## Related Forms
- vision
- visional
- visionless
- visualize

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: visio
- Root: videre
- Root: *weyd-

## Etymology
From Latin visio ('a seeing, sight'), from videre ('to see'), via the noun vision plus the adjective-forming suffix -ary.

## AI Etymology
Visionary comes from Latin visio ('a seeing, sight'), from videre ('to see'), via the noun vision plus the adjective-forming suffix -ary. In current use it is an adjective and noun meaning "thinking about the future with imagination or wisdom; a person who does so". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The surface form is compositional: its joined elements remain visible in the modern word. The historical chain includes Latin visio, Latin videre, and Proto-Indo-European *weyd-. Related English forms include vision, visional, visionless, and visualize. A derived form is visionariness. The word's history is thus visible in its construction: the components remain interpretable even after the whole expression has settled into a conventional English meaning.

## Topics
- Time
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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