image
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A visual representation produced on a surface.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
imuhjSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɪmədʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
A visual or other representation of the external form of something in art.
A representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture)
A mental picture of something not real or not present.
A characteristic of a person, group or company etc., style, manner of dress, how one is or wishes to be perceived by others.
A statue or idol.
verb
transitive
To reflect, mirror.
transitive
To represent by an image or symbol; to portray.
transitive
To create an image of.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
Used this way, image is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- ikon , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use image
- “Her imagination forced images upon her too awful to contemplate.”noun
- “A public image is as fragile as Humpty Dumpty.”noun
- “Although her popular image was contrived it served to inspire music and pageantry.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The ability to form mental images of things or events.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An electronic device that generates a digital representation of an image for data input to a computer.
A mental image produced by the imagination.
The compression of graphics for storage or transmission.
A destroyer of images used in religious worship.
A material effigy that is worshipped.
A mental image of something previously experienced.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case.
The formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses.
The ability to form mental images of things or events.
An idealized image of someone (usually a parent) formed in childhood.
The ability to form mental images of things or events.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.