different between imaginary vs questionable
imaginary
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)
- Existing only in the imagination.
- Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer / Imaginary ills and fancied tortures?
- (mathematics, of a number) Having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of (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)
- 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.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 324:
- (mathematics) An imaginary quantity. [from 18th c.]
- (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
imaginary From the web:
- what imaginary line
- what imaginary lines are based on the equator
- what imaginary numbers
- what imaginary mean
- what imaginary lines of latitude and longitude
- what imaginary numbers are used for
- what imaginary animal am i
- what imaginary creature are you quiz
questionable
English
Alternative forms
- quæstionable (archaic)
Etymology
question +? -able
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?kw?st???n?bl?/
- Hyphenation: ques?tio?nable
Adjective
questionable (comparative more questionable, superlative most questionable)
- Problematic; open to doubt or challenge.
- It is questionable if the universe is open or closed.
- 1881, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, London: Macmillan, Volume I, Chapter 3, p. 28,[1]
- A crude, cold rain was falling heavily; the spring-time presented itself as a questionable improvement.
- Of dubious respectability or morality.
- Tiffiny’s behavior is highly questionable.
- 1920, Carolyn Wells, Raspberry Jam, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, Chapter 18, p. 302,[2]
- […] he had a love of money—a sort of acquisitiveness, that led him into questionable dealings.
- (obsolete) Inviting questions; inviting inquiry.
- c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 4,[3]
- Thou com’st in such a questionable shape
- That I will speak to thee.
- c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 4,[3]
Derived terms
Translations
questionable From the web:
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