Meaning & use

imagery

noun·Academic

Descriptive language that creates vivid mental pictures or appeals to the senses, especially in literature.

See it in a sentence

The poem's imagery of crashing waves made readers feel the storm firsthand.

Satellite imagery revealed the true scale of the flooding across the valley.

A note on using this word

In literary contexts, imagery refers to sensory description; in technical contexts, such as 'satellite imagery', it simply means images or pictures.

Words with a similar meaning

descriptionfigurative language

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

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