visualize

American  

[vizh-oo-uh-lahyz] / ˈvɪʒ u əˌlaɪz /

especially British, visualise

verb (used without object)

visualized, visualizing

1. to recall or form mental images or pictures.

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verb (used with object)

visualized, visualizing

1. to make visual or visible.

2. to form a mental image of.

3. to make perceptible to the mind or imagination.

visualize British  

/ ˈvɪʒʊəˌlaɪz, -zjʊ- /

verb

1. to form a mental image of (something incapable of being viewed or not at that moment visible)

2. med to view by means of an X-ray the outline of (a bodily organ, structure, or part)

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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

First recorded in 1810–20; visual + -ize

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.

Example Sentences

CoreWeave plans to roll out Perplexity Enterprise Max across its organization, enabling employees to search the web and internal knowledge, run research, visualize and analyze data and work with AI models all within one platform.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026

Then she listened to all 70 minutes of the original audio archive from Red Crescent and decided to visualize Hind’s voice as digital sound waves that take up the entire screen.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026

To visualize these interactions, the researchers used a method called whole-mount immunofluorescence, allowing them to capture detailed three dimensional images of lesions and surrounding cells.

From Science Daily • Feb. 15, 2026

"It's hard to visualize what it's going to be like moving forward."

From Barron's • Jan. 4, 2026

I took a few moments to visualize a thick round glass tube leading from my hand up and into the basket like a funnel.

From "The Million Dollar Shot" by Dan Gutman

Related Words

• anticipate
• dream up
• envision