1
as in graphical
consisting of or relating to pictures
after a desensitizing series of imaginal exposures to the feared object, the phobic person is then exposed to the actual object
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in mythic
not real and existing only in the imagination
the equator is merely an imaginal line
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of imaginal
Peter [Merry] likes to use is that, when a caterpillar is becoming a butterfly, new ‘imaginal cells’ emerge.
—
Big Think, 7 Aug. 2025
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.
—Angela Haupt, TIME, 10 May 2024
Mercury entering into Pisces turns up the imaginal juice.
—USA TODAY, 23 Feb. 2024
Then, from bundles of cells known as imaginal disks, a new body takes form.
—Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2023
Big Think, 7 Aug. 2025
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.
—Angela Haupt, TIME, 10 May 2024
Mercury entering into Pisces turns up the imaginal juice.
—USA TODAY, 23 Feb. 2024
Then, from bundles of cells known as imaginal disks, a new body takes form.
—Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for imaginal
Adjective
-
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.—
Lisa Baker Gibbs,
Arkansas Online,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Shortly after, graphic close-up videos of the attack began proliferating on X and TikTok.—
Rebecca Jennings,
Vulture,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Few characters, real or imaginary, have sustained this type of stage and screen presence for so many decades.—
Michael Taube,
The Washington Examiner,
12 Sep. 2025
-
But Laura, used to getting away with murder, just neglected Daniel’s imaginary corpse after conjuring it.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
When consumed, the body breaks down the compound into psilocin, an alkaloid that can cause startling visual hallucinations and psychological effects, often including intense introspection.—
Allison Parshall,
Scientific American,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Invest in natural language query tools with visual explanations (graph traversal, source citations).—
Daniel Fallmann,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Nowadays, these routes and addresses can sometimes call to my mind the Camino Real—the old Spanish road lost and buried but commuted upon daily—or that mythic expanse of the Mediterranean where Odysseus lost his way and people live and work to this day.—
Manuel Muñoz,
Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
-
For baseball aficionados, the name Sandy Koufax is almost mythical.—
Steve Futterman,
NPR,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Displayed in the same first-floor gallery, Because (2018) comprises artworks composed of photographs in wooden frames under a curtain embroidered with a phrase explaining what triggered her photographic act.—
Natasha Gural,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
-
This project became both an ethnographic and photographic study of how women inhabit, resist, and reimagine their roles in a context denned by deep contradictions – beauty and chaos, devotion and repression, tradition and transformation.—
Vogue,
Vogue,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The mockumentary about a fictitious paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania aired from 2005 to 2013.—
Lisa Respers France,
CNN Money,
12 Sep. 2025
-
The bad news about this fictitious mountainside hole-in-the-wall?—
Tim McGovern,
PEOPLE,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Yeager was one of Hef’s go-to photographers, shooting eight centerfolds along with pictorial spreads.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
14 Aug. 2025
-
As for the pictorial tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s hand, marijuana leaves, crosses and skulls are widely used by people who do not belong to gangs.—
Louis Jacobson,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
Adjective
-
To respond to a volatile inflation crisis, should the CEO of Burger & Bites, a fictional fast-food chain, introduce dynamic pricing to its restaurants?—
Elie Ofek,
Harvard Business Review,
14 Sep. 2025
-
College football fan favorite Fansville, a satirical episodic drama from Dr Pepper set in a fictional college town, is returning for its eighth season.—
Kristi Dosh,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Imaginal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imaginal. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share