Meaning & use

ideational

adjective·Advanced

Relating to the forming of ideas or to abstract thought rather than concrete, physical reality.

See it in a sentence

The workshop focused on the ideational stage of design, before any prototypes were built.

Linguists study the ideational function of language, or how it represents thoughts and experiences.

A note on using this word

Ideational is a technical term common in linguistics, psychology, and design theory; it is rarely used in everyday speech.

Words with a similar meaning

conceptualabstract

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

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