Synonyms of imaginal

imaginal

adjective

i-ˈma-jə-nᵊl 

1

as in graphic

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

• graphic
• visual
• photographic
• pictorial
• illustrative
• video
• illustrational
• represented
• ideographic
• iconographic
• painted
• drawn
• pictographic
• hieroglyphic
• ideogramic
• ideogrammatic

2

as in imaginary

not real and existing only in the imagination

the equator is merely an imaginal line

Synonyms & Similar Words

• imaginary
• mythical
• fictional
• fictitious
• imagined
• fantasied
• phantasmal
• ideal
• phantom
• chimerical
• make-believe
• unreal
• fanciful
• notional
• phantasmic
• theoretical
• visionary
• invented
• fantastic
• romantic
• hypothetical
• legendary
• pretend
• made-up
• unlikely
• fabulous
• abstract
• fabled
• hallucinatory
• illusory
• delusive
• fictive
• phantasmagoric
• visualized
• envisioned
• deceptive
• conceived
• unbelievable
• unconvincing
• delusional
• envisaged
• nonexistent
• pictured
• feigned
• concocted
• daydreamlike
• inexistent
• fabricated

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• actual
• real
• existing
• true
• existent
• genuine
• authentic
• factual
• physical
• realistic
• verifiable
• corporeal
• substantial
• convincing
• solid
• believable
• material
• tangible
• palpable
• verified

Example Sentences

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

Then, from bundles of cells known as imaginal disks, a new body takes form. — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2023