visualize
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to make visual or visible.
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to form a mental image of.
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to make perceptible to the mind or imagination.
verb
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to form a mental image of (something incapable of being viewed or not at that moment visible)
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med to view by means of an X-ray the outline of (a bodily organ, structure, or part)
Other Word Forms
- nonvisualized adjective
- revisualization noun
- revisualize verb
- unvisualized adjective
- visualist noun
- visualizable adjective
- visualization noun
- visualizer noun
- well-visualized adjective
Etymology
Origin of visualize
Explanation
To visualize something is to be able to see it in your mind. From the twitching in their feet, it seems that sleeping dogs often visualize a fenced-in area and about 30 squirrels. Visualizing is a lot like imagining — both involve picturing something in your mind. But while imagine has the sense of wondering and exploring, when you visualize something, your hope is to make it real. Basketball players visualize themselves making a shot to help them sink the basketball in the hoop. Visualize yourself getting the job as you're going in to be interviewed and your chances for success will increase.
Vocabulary lists containing visualize
Common Senses: Vid, Vis ("See")
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Hatchet
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STAAR Grade 8 Reading: The Language of the Test, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Instead, researchers relied on micro-CT scanning, which allowed them to visualize the full skeleton in just a few months.
From Science Daily • Apr. 1, 2026
Regardless of the muted market reaction, lidar technology—which is essentially laser-based radar—used by cars and machines to visualize their environment, is maturing.
From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026
Better analytics and ways to visualize what athletes’ bodies are doing could bring more fans and democratize training for those who don’t have access to top-notch coaches.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
Try to visualize how the party looked, but from a different angle.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026
I closed my eyes and went over the propositional calculus, trying to visualize the truth tables for conjunction, disjunction, equivalence, and material implication.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
