as in fictitious
not real and existing only in the imagination
told by the psychologist that it was perfectly normal for their child to have an imaginary friend
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Recent Examples of imaginary
The characters on this list go to war — whether real or imaginary — with their circumstances and find a way to turn their adversities into their advantage.
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Chris Snellgrove, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Jan. 2026
When asked by director Marina Zenovich if there was a time when Chase walked away from his mother and stepfather and never saw them again, Chase pretended to swat a fly on his forehead, then licked his fingers as if eating the imaginary bug.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 2 Jan. 2026
In this way, Berlin and New York were linked as though through an imaginary tunnel that gave passage to the hidden or half-glimpsed sexualities that heteropatriarchy silences and obscures.
—Javier Montes, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
Not everyone smuggles them into print in the form of an imaginary friend.
—Ian Parker, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for imaginary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for imaginary
Adjective
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Anyone who’s survived to 2026 knows the upper class’ fictitious fantasies still carry real, wretched consequences for the rest of us, but Season 4 plays out those ongoing scenarios to the nth degree, while condensing them into an appreciable narrative arc.—
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The series, which premiered on Netflix at the end of 2024, tells the story of the Buendía family over multiple generations and is set in the fictitious town of Macondo, Colombia, which the family founded.—
Adjective
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As the voice of Rumi, Ejae performed the lead vocals of all the songs for HUNTR/X, the movie's fictional k-pop girl group that moonlights as demon hunters who protect the world from soul-sucking monsters.—
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In the fictional story of the Shakespeare family, their family tragedy leads Shakespeare to write Hamlet.—
Adjective
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The repetition of that mythic version has buttressed the belief that the fight for American independence was an event somehow separate from world history.—
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That was a really great mythic take.—
Adjective
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Taken together, the books on this list show narrators real and imagined grappling with some of life’s greatest challenges, and nevertheless surviving—as timely and valuable a message as readers can ask for.—
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Prompted by Einstein, the noncompliant witnesses in the 1950s reshaped the public discussion, refocusing the conversation on the importance of freedom of expression rather than the fears of imagined communist infiltration.—
Adjective
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Peter [Merry] likes to use is that, when a caterpillar is becoming a butterfly, new ‘imaginal cells’ emerge.—
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With one technique, for example—called imaginal exposure—you might be asked to visualize the process of going to the airport, boarding the plane, and experiencing a bad bout of turbulence.—
Cite this Entry
“Imaginary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imaginary. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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