imagination

noun

1. 想象力；想象
   the ability to create pictures in your mind; the part of your mind that does this
   1. a vivid/fertile imagination
      生动的 / 丰富的想象
   2. He's got no imagination.
      他缺乏想象力。
   3. It doesn't take much imagination to guess what she meant.
      不难猜出她的意思。
   4. I won't tell you his reaction ─I'll leave that to your imagination .
      我不告诉你他的反应，你自己去想好了。
   5. Don't let your imagination run away with you (= don't use too much imagination) .
      不要一味凭空想象。
   6. The new policies appear to have caught the imagination of the public (= they find them interesting and exciting) .
      新出台的政策似乎恰恰投合了公众的喜好。
   7. Nobody hates you─it's all in your imagination .
      没人讨厌你——都是你在胡思乱想。
   8. Use your imagination! (= used to tell sb that they will have to guess the answer to the question they have asked you, usually because it is obvious or embarrassing)
      你自己动动脑筋嘛！
2. 想象的事物；幻想物
   something that you have imagined rather than sth that exists
   1. She was no longer able to distinguish between imagination and reality.
      她再也不能分清幻想和现实了。
   2. Is it my imagination or have you lost a lot of weight?
      是我的错觉，还是你确实瘦了许多？
3. 创造力；创作力
   the ability to have new and exciting ideas
   1. His writing lacks imagination.
      他的作品缺乏想象。
   2. With a little imagination , you could turn this place into a palace.
      稍微动点脑筋，就能把这个地方变得富丽堂皇。

1. N-VAR 想象;想象力
   Your imagination is the ability that you have to form pictures or ideas in your mind of things that are new and exciting, or things that you have not experienced.
   1. Antonia is a woman with a vivid imagination...
      安东尼娅是个想象力丰富的女人。
   2. Alistair had a logical mind, and little imagination...
      阿利斯泰尔逻辑思维能力很强,但缺乏想象力。
   3. The Government approach displays a lack of imagination.
      政府的方案显得缺乏想象力。
2. N-COUNT 想象；空想；幻想
   Your imagination is the part of your mind which allows you to form pictures or ideas of things that do not necessarily exist in real life.
   1. Long before I ever went there, Africa was alive in my imagination.
      早在我真正踏足之前很久,非洲就已在我的脑海中活灵活现了。
3. PHRASE 吸引…的注意力;摄人魂魄;引人入胜
   If you say that someone or something captured your imagination, you mean that you thought they were interesting or exciting when you saw them or heard them for the first time.
   1. Italian football captured the imagination of the nation last season.
      上个赛季意大利足球吸引了全国上下的注意。
4. PHRASE 发人深省;予人启迪
   If you say that something stretches your imagination, you mean that it is good because it makes you think about things that you had not thought about before.
   1. Their films are exciting and really stretch the imagination.
      他们的电影非常精彩且发人深省。
5. not by any stretch of the imagination → see: stretch

1. The work demanded boundless energy and theatrical imagination
   这种工作需要具备无限的精力和夸张的想象力。
2. He tackled the job with a great deal of imagination, skill and cunning.
   他在工作中充分发挥其想象力、技能和聪明才智来解决各种难题。
3. For once, the artist's fertile imagination failed him
   这位画家丰富的想象力曾一度枯竭。
4. A chess player must have a fertile imagination and rich sense of fantasy.
   一个棋手必须有丰富的想象力，并善于奇思妙想。
5. The attack wasn't just a figment of my imagination.
   袭击可不是我凭空想象出来的。
6. Antonia is a woman with a vivid imagination
   安东尼娅是个想象力丰富的女人。
7. Alistair had a logical mind, and little imagination
   阿利斯泰尔逻辑思维能力很强，但缺乏想象力。
8. The Government approach displays a lack of imagination.
   政府的方案显得缺乏想象力。
9. Long before I ever went there, Africa was alive in my imagination.
   早在我真正踏足之前很久，非洲就已在我的脑海中活灵活现了。
10. Italian football captured the imagination of the nation last season.
    上个赛季意大利足球吸引了全国上下的注意。
11. Their films are exciting and really stretch the imagination.
    他们的电影非常精彩且发人深省。
12. These poems have helped kindle the imagination of generations of children.
    这些诗激发了一代又一代孩子的想象力。
13. It is one of the most original works of imagination in the language.
    这是用该语言写成的最具独创性和想象力的作品之一。
14. Even the film's impressive finale can't hide the first hour's paucity of imagination.
    这部电影的结局可圈可点，即使这样也无法掩盖前一个小时想象力贫乏的缺憾。
15. A conservatory offers the perfect excuse to let your imagination run riot.
    音乐学院让你有充分的理由任想象力自由驰骋。
16. You're letting your imagination run away with you
    你这是在想入非非。
17. His music lacked that vital spark of imagination
    他的音乐缺少非常关键的那一点灵感。
18. She lived entirely by spiritual values, in a world of poetry and imagination.
    她追求精神上的满足，完全生活在一个诗歌和想象的世界里。
19. Her husband was not a womaniser by any stretch of the imagination
    她老公绝对不是个拈花惹草的人。
20. By no stretch of the imagination could his speech be described as impersonal.
    他的演讲再怎么说也不缺乏人情味。
21. He submerges himself in the world of his imagination.
    他沉浸在自己想象的世界中。
22. Unfettered by the bounds of reality, my imagination flourished.
    跳出现实的束缚，我的想象力天马行空。
23. He had simply used a little imagination
    他只不过是用了一点点想象力。
24. She has plenty of imagination.
    她的想象力非常丰富。
25. Poems are the product of a poet's imagination.
    诗是诗人想象力的产物。
26. Imagination raises a man above the humdrum of life.
    想象使人从单调无聊的生活中解脱出来。
27. I think you're the only member of your household that's got an imagination.
    我认为你是你家里唯一有想象力的人。
28. Don't let your imagination run away with you.
    休要异想天开。
29. The writer's imagination seems to have dried up.
    这位作家的想像力好像己经枯竭了。
30. It is simply a fantastic imagination to conceive that one can master a foreign language overnight.
    幻想在一天早晨就把外语学好，那只是白日作梦。

n.

leave nothing/little to the imagination

• （暴露身体）没有想象的余地
  to allow more of sb's body to be seen than usual
  1. Her tight-fitting dress left nothing to the imagination.
     她的紧身连衣裙令身材显露无遗。

a figment of sb's imagination

• 凭空想象的事物；臆造的东西；虚构的事
  something that sb has imagined and that does not really exist

not by any stretch of the imagination

by no stretch of the imagination

• 任凭怎么想也不；再怎么说也不
  used to say strongly that sth is not true, even if you try to imagine or believe it
  1. She could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be called beautiful.
     再怎么说，她也称不上漂亮。

noun

1. the formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses
   1. popular imagination created a world of demons
   2. imagination reveals what the world could be

   Synonym:    imaginativenessvision

2. the ability to deal resourcefully with unusual problems
   1. a man of resource

   Synonym:    resourceresourcefulness

3. the ability to form mental images of things or events
   1. he could still hear her in his imagination

   Synonym:    imagingimagerymental imagery