imaginal

[ ih-mey-guh-nl, ih-mah- ]

adjective

, Entomology.

1. of, relating to, or having the form of an imago.

imaginal

/ ɪˈmædʒɪnəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling an imago
2. of or relating to an image

Word History and Origins

Origin of imaginal¹

1875–80; < New Latin imāgin-, stem of imāgō imago + -al ¹

Example Sentences

All that was now dissolving, back into imaginal discs of emotion.

From Slate

“Whether to downplay it or try to defend it in some way. He identified as gay, but I never knew him to have a sexual partner, or an actual sex life. His sexual practices were what I call Whitmanesque, imaginal only.”

From New York Times

As roots reggae’s foremost producer, Perry, wrote essayist and musician David Toop, built “an imaginal chamber over which presided the electronic wizard, evangelist, gossip columnist and Dr. Frankenstein.”

From Los Angeles Times

Within this living soup are the imaginal cells that will catalyse its transformation into winged maturity.

From The Guardian

May the best among us, the most visionary, the most inclusive, be the imaginal cells – for now we are in the soup.

From The Guardian