0

Ok, see

to image: form a mental picture or idea of. "it is possible for us to image a society in which no one committed crime" Source

to imagine: form a mental image or concept of. "imagine a road trip from Philadelphia to Chicago" Source

So, my question is:

Can we use "to image" & "to imagine" interchangeably?

So that the 2 above sentences can be written as:

"it is possible for us to image / imagine a society in which no one committed crime"

"imagine / image a road trip from Philadelphia to Chicago"

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

I feel that "image" is very rare as a verb (and even rarer when you restrict its sense to what you gave above). Much rarer than "imagine."

But, given that "image" can also mean "to picture or represent in the mind; imagine; conceive," it seems it's synonymous with "imagine" and thus interchangeable. I guess this means all of your sentences are okay.

But I warn you that using "image" in this way sounds pretty strange/marked (at least to me)...

Improve this answer
3
  • so you are native English speaker, aren't you?
    – Tom
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 3:05
  • 1
    Yes, I am an American English speaker. I think most would agree with me that using "image" as a verb in this way is pretty RARE. Many might not even know that it can be used in this way. I wasn't sure about this use until this post!
    – DyingIsFun
    Commented Sep 11, 2015 at 3:14
  • I saw this question was asked in a Chinese yahoo-answers like website. The arguments were so much. Unexpected, it's so simple.
    – Zhang
    Commented Nov 21, 2018 at 6:15

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .