English → Latin
“imaginary” in Latin
imāgināriusimage; imaginaryopīnorto suppose, imagine, deem, think, judge, opineopīnābilisconjectural; imaginaryadumbrōto bring a shadow over something, cast a shadow on, shade or overshadow something, cover, screen; to represent an objectinānisempty, void, hollow; vain; purposeless, meaningless, worthless, useless, fruitless, empty, idlemetusfear, dread, anxiety, apprehension; awe, reverencefingōto shape, fashion, form, knead (dough); to touch, touch gently, stroke, stroke gently, handle; to adorn, dress, arrangesimulōto make like, simulate, imitate, copy, represent; to feign, pretend; to behave or act (as if, as though)
The English word imaginary itself goes back to Latin imāgō, through imāginārius.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
imaginary
imaginarius (happening in form or notion only; e.g., neque se imaginariis fascibus cessuros esse, Liv., 3, 41; not met with before Livy): opinatus (supposed only; e.g., a good or evil; opposed to verus): opinabilis (e.g., omnes animi perturbationes sunt opinabiles, Cic.): adumbratus (sketched in appearance only, opposed to verus): inanis (unfounded; e.g., metus). Sometimes fictus: simulatus (pretended). Imaginary difficulties, *difficultates, quas sibi aliquis ipse fingit (Wyttenback). Anything is imaginary, not real, aliquid est opinionis, non naturae. Imaginary forms, formae, quae reapse nullae sunt, speciem tamen offerunt (Cic., Div., 1, 37, 81). To entertain an imaginary fear of anything, opinione timere aliquid (Cic.). It may often be translated by, (a) id quod videtur esse, neque est; e.g., “an imaginary expediency,” ea quae videtur utilitas, neque est; id quod videtur utile esse, neque est; (b) species, with genitive. An imaginary advantage, species utilitatis. Vid: APPARENT.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for imaginary?
- The usual Latin words for “imaginary” are imāginārius, opīnor, opīnābilis; also adumbrō, inānis, metus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.