Meaning & use
imagery
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Meanings
noununcountableliterary
Language in poems, stories, or speeches that appeals to the senses and creates strong mental pictures.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: the poem's imagery, not an imagery.
Patterns
- vivid imagery
- imagery of light and darkness
- use imagery
The imagery of cold rain runs through the whole poem.
Her speech used imagery of bridges and open doors to describe reform.
noununcountabletechnical
Pictures or visual data taken together, especially photographs or scans used for study or monitoring.
Grammar: Often modified by the source: satellite imagery, medical imagery.
Patterns
- satellite imagery
- thermal imagery
- medical imagery
Satellite imagery showed floodwater spreading across the delta.
Doctors compared the brain imagery from both scans.
noununcountablespecialist
Deliberately formed mental pictures used in training, therapy, or performance preparation.
Grammar: Common with 'mental' or 'guided': mental imagery before a race.
Patterns
- mental imagery
- guided imagery
- visual imagery
The swimmer practices imagery before each final.
Guided imagery helped the patient relax before surgery.
Common combinations
- vivid imagery
- The novel's vivid imagery makes the harbor feel close.
- visual imagery
- Coaches use visual imagery to rehearse successful plays.
- satellite imagery
- Satellite imagery tracked the storm through the night.
- powerful imagery
- The advertisement relies on powerful imagery rather than statistics.
Synonyms and how they differ
- description
- Description is any account of details; imagery specifically aims at sensory pictures and feeling.
- symbolism
- Symbolism gives objects deeper meaning, while imagery creates sense impressions; a poem can use both.
- visualization
- Visualization is forming images in the mind, often for practice; literary imagery is made of words on a page.
Word family
- image noun
- A picture, likeness, or mental picture.
- imagine verb
- To form a picture or idea in the mind.
- imaginative adjective
- Showing creativity or new ideas.
- imaginable adjective
- Possible to imagine.
Commonly confused: imagery or imagination?
imagery vs imagination
Imagination is the mind's ability to invent ideas; imagery is the sensory pictures or images produced in words or data.
Practice
Which phrase is closest in meaning to 'the poem uses imagery of winter'?
Choose one answer.
Literary imagery creates sensory mental pictures, so winter imagery builds cold, snowy impressions. It does not mean literal photos or an argument against winter.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “imagery”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.