ldoce_724_zi·ma·gine /ɪˈmædʒɪn/ ●●● S1 W2 verb [transitiveT]1 IMAGINEto form a picture or idea in your mind about what something could be like 想象imagine (that)Imagine that you have just won a million pounds. 設想你剛剛赢得一百萬英鎊。
Imagine life without hot water. 想象一下沒有熱水的生活。
imagine what/how/why etcCan you imagine what it’s like when it’s really hot out here in Delhi? 你能想象出德裏這兒熱起來是什麽樣子嗎?
imagine somebody doing somethingShe could imagine dark-robed figures moving silently along the stone corridors. 她可以想象出身穿黑袍的人悄無聲息地在石廊裏穿行的情景。
(just) imagine doing somethingImagine doing a horrible job like that! 想象一下做那種可怕的工作吧!
Just imagine going all that way for nothing! 想想看,白走了那麽多的路!
imagine somebody/something as somethingHe didn’t quite dare to imagine himself as a real artist. 他不太敢把自己想象成一個真正的藝術家。
imagine somebody in/with/without etc somethingSomehow, I can’t imagine him without a beard. 不知爲什麽,我想象不出他沒有胡子的樣子。
it’s difficult/easy/possible/impossible etc to imagine somethingAfter such a dry summer, it’s difficult to imagine what rain looks like. 經過如此幹燥的夏季,很難想象下雨的樣子。
n GrammarImagine is followed by an -ing form, not an infinitive. You say: I can’t imagine living without music.
✗Don’t say: I can’t imagine to live without music. 2 WRONG/UNJUSTIFIEDto have a false or wrong idea about something 胡思亂想;誤以爲Perhaps she’d never really been there at all – perhaps she’d just imagined it. 可能她從未到過那兒——也許這都是她的幻想。
imagined dangers 憑空臆想出來的危險
imagine (that)She had imagined that the doctor would be male. 她原本以爲會是個男醫生。
I was surprised when I saw the farm. I had imagined it would be much bigger. 看見農場時我很驚訝我原來想象它會大得多。
imagine something/somebody to be somethingThere’s nobody here. You’re just imagining things. 這兒沒人,你只是在胡思亂想。
3 [not in progressive]THINK SO/NOT BE SURE to think that something is true or may happen, but without being sure or having proof 〔不確定或沒有根據地〕猜想,猜測‘A very complicated subject, I imagine, ’ said Edwin. “一個非常複雜的問題,我猜想。”埃德溫說。
imagine (that)You are obviously tired and I imagine that nothing would make you admit it. 你明顯是累了,但我想你是絕對不肯承認的。
4 you can/can’t imagine something British EnglishBrE spokenVERY used to emphasize how good, bad etc something is 你能想象到/你想象不到某事〔用於強調某物好、壞等的程度〕You can/can’t imagine how/what/why etcYou can imagine how angry I was! 你能想象我當時有多生氣!
You can’t imagine what a terrible week we had. 你想象不到我們經歷了多麽可怕的一個星期。
n COLLOCATIONS – Meaning 1 : to form a picture or idea in your mind about what something could be likephrasesbe easy to imagineIt’s easy to imagine how the change in the law caused a lot of confusion.
be hard/difficult to imagineIt’s hard to imagine the suffering she must have gone through.
can easily imagineI can easily imagine how frightening the accident must have been.
can well imagine (=can easily imagine)I can well imagine how delighted you were with the news.
can hardly/scarcely imagine (=find it difficult to imagine)He could scarcely imagine what living in such poor conditions must have been like.
can’t/couldn’t imagineHe couldn’t imagine life without his wife.
what somebody had imagined (=what someone thought something would be like, before they saw it or experienced it)The office was not what he had imagined.
be bigger/smaller/worse etc than you had imaginedThe job interview proved to be much worse than I had imagined it would be.
let us imagine … (=used to encourage someone else to think about a possibility)Let us imagine that you are an employer who wants to recruit some new staff.
somebody is imagining things (=someone has a false or wrong idea about something)She’s imagining things if she thinks she has a chance of winning the prize.
adverbsnaively imagine (=to imagine something without realizing how complicated the situation is)She had naively imagined that marriage would solve all her problems.
fondly imagine (=to believe something that is untrue)He had fondly imagined that she was in love with him.
THESAURUSimagine to form a picture or idea in your mind about what something might be like 想象When I think of Honolulu, I imagine long white beaches and palm trees. 想到檀香山我的腦海裏就浮現出連綿的白色沙灘和棕榈樹。
I can’t really imagine being a millionaire. 我無法想象百萬富翁是個什麽樣子。
visualize to form a picture of someone or something in your mind, especially something that is definitely going to happen or exist in the future 設想,想象〔尤指將會發生或出現的事〕Anna visualized meeting Greg again at the airport. 安娜設想在機場和格雷格重逢的場面。
The finished house may be hard to visualize. 房子完工後是什麽樣子也許很難想象。
picture to form a clear picture of something or someone in your mind 想象,設想I can still picture my father, even though he died a long time ago. 我依舊能想象出父親的樣子,盡管他去世已久。
The town was just how she had pictured it from his description. 這座城鎮和她根據他的描述想象的完全一樣。
envisage /ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/ especially British EnglishBrE, envision to imagine something as possible or likely to happen in the future 設想,展望How do you envisage your career developing over the next ten years? 你對自己未來十年的職業發展是如何設想的?
nThey had envisioned the creation of a single armed force, small but efficient.
conceive of something formal to imagine a situation, especially one that is difficult to imagine 想象[設想]某事物〔尤指難以想象的情形〕For many people, music is so important that they cannot conceive of life without it. 對許多人來說音樂太重要了,他們無法想象沒有音樂的生活是什麽樣子。
fantasize to imagine something exciting that you would like to happen, but that is very unlikely to happen 幻想,想象〔發生的可能性很小的令人興奮的事〕I used to fantasize about becoming a film star. 以前我曾幻想過成爲電影明星。
daydream to imagine pleasant things, so that you forget where you are and what you should be doing 做白日夢Mark began to daydream, and didn’t even hear the teacher’s question. 馬克開始做起了白日夢,連老師的提問都沒聽見。
hallucinate to imagine that you are seeing things that are not really there, especially because you are ill or have taken drugs 〔尤因生病或吸毒〕産生幻覺The drug can cause some people to hallucinate. 這種藥會讓一些人産生幻覺。
When I saw the walls moving, I thought I must be hallucinating. 看到牆在動時,我想我一定是産生了幻覺。
imagine• Now imagine 5 billion people, the entire population of Earth, each setting off a 24ton explosion at the same time.• The lake is much prettier than I had imagined.• It is impossible to imagine a Cheyenne war party coming out of the canyon, because the canyon is gone.• Try to imagine a room as big as a football field.• Manson offers EMGs as an alternative, but I can't imagine anyone objecting to the sound of the Seymours.• I can't imagine anyone wearing clothes that colour.• Just imagine having to spend the rest of your life in jail.• It was hard to imagine how the system could be improved or made more convenient.• Surely she'd imagined it; the light wasn't very good, and Jean knew that shadows could be misleading.• She had never suffered from claustrophobia, but right now she could imagine just how its victims felt.• But then you can't imagine that, can you?• Mary was always imagining that people were talking about her behind her back.• For a while she imagined that she was a rich woman, living in a beautiful house.• When I was a child I would lie awake imagining that there were monsters in the dark corners of my room.• ""I'm sure I saw Brian in the park today.'' ""No, you must be imagining things. Brian hasn't lived here for nearly fifteen years.''• In an effort to restrain himself, he tried to imagine things in the worst possible light.• From the description Janet gave in her letter it was easy to imagine what her new apartment was like.• I can quite easily imagine you running your own business. imagine (that)• It appeared that Montpelier was far more dangerous than anyone could ever have imagined.• That man can read a wind sock quicker, better, than anyone you can imagine.• Perhaps I just imagined hearing her moaning a little in the night, and shaking splinters of glass out of her long grey hair.• It was hard to imagine how the system could be improved or made more convenient.• She had not imagined she would ever dare say this aloud.• He reconstructed the events as he imagined they had happened that evening in April.• He imagined this woman draped on Humphrey Bogart's arm and walking into a seedy bar.• I imagined trophies to be special drinking glasses for very large people.
imagine (that)• It appeared that Montpelier was far more dangerous than anyone could ever have imagined.• That man can read a wind sock quicker, better, than anyone you can imagine.• Perhaps I just imagined hearing her moaning a little in the night, and shaking splinters of glass out of her long grey hair.• It was hard to imagine how the system could be improved or made more convenient.• She had not imagined she would ever dare say this aloud.• He reconstructed the events as he imagined they had happened that evening in April.• He imagined this woman draped on Humphrey Bogart's arm and walking into a seedy bar.• I imagined trophies to be special drinking glasses for very large people.