different between imaginary vs conditional

English

Etymology

From Middle French imaginaire, from Latin im?gin?rius (“relating to images, fancied”), from im?g?.

The mathematical sense derives from René Descartes's use (of the French imaginaire) in 1637, La Geometrie, to ridicule the notion of regarding non-real roots of polynomials as numbers. Although Descartes' usage was derogatory, the designation stuck even after the concept gained acceptance in the 18th century.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??mæd??n(?)?i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??mæd???n??i/

Adjective

imaginary (comparative more imaginary, superlative most imaginary)

1. Existing only in the imagination.

   • Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer / Imaginary ills and fancied tortures?

2. (mathematics, of a number) Having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {-1}}}$ (called imaginary unit).

Synonyms

• (existing only in the imagination): all in one's head

Derived terms

• imaginarily
• imaginariness
• imaginarity
• imaginary number
• imaginary unit

Translations

Noun

imaginary (plural imaginaries)

1. Imagination; fancy. [from 16th c.]
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 324:

     By then too Mozart's opera, from Da Ponte's libretto, had made Figaro a stock character in the European imaginary and set the whole Continent whistling Mozartian airs and chuckling at Figaresque humour.
2. (mathematics) An imaginary quantity. [from 18th c.]
3. (sociology) The set of values, institutions, laws, and symbols common to a particular social group and the corresponding society through which people imagine their social whole.

References

English

Alternative forms

• conditionall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French condicionel (French conditionnel).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?d???n?l/

Noun

conditional (plural conditionals)

1. (grammar) A conditional sentence; a statement that depends on a condition being true or false.
2. (grammar) The conditional mood.
3. (logic) A statement that one sentence is true if another is.
4. (programming) An instruction that branches depending on the truth of a condition at that point.

5. (obsolete) A limitation.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (in logic): if-then statement; material conditional

Meronyms

• (in logic): antecedent
• (in logic): consequent

Translations

Adjective

conditional (not comparable)

1. Limited by a condition.
   • 1753, William Warburton, The Character and Conduct of the Messengers

     Every covenant of God with man […] may justly be made (as in fact it is made) with this conditional punishment annexed and declared.

2. (logic) Stating that one sentence is true if another is.
   • 1826, Richard Whately, Elements of Logic

     A conditional proposition is one which asserts the dependence of one categorical proposition on another.

3. (grammar) Expressing a condition or supposition.

Synonyms

• conditioned
• relative
• limited
• (in logic): hypothetical

Antonyms

• absolute
• categorical
• unconditional

Derived terms

Translations