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to visualize

to visualize

71 3.8
Form a clear picture of something in your mind
  • verb
  • /ˈvɪʒuəˌlaɪz/
  • US
: imaginar
  • To help with my goal, I often visualize myself succeeding and achieving my dreams.
  • help students visualize
  • visualize what you read
  • students visualize

Well, let me just dream and let's visualize all of it.

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Examples

  • Before we do the problem, let's try to visualize what's going on.

  • Students can be shown the drawing first before being asked to visualize what it would look like.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Everybody could, you know, sort of visualize what this meant, right?

  • Now visualize a light of the color associated with your goal.

  • Just try to visualize it.

  • As I enter the school for the first time, I will visualize what it will be like on the last day of my senior year.

  • Jake, visualize where you want the ball to go and drill it.

  • Passage was easier to complete and understand because I could visualize what the author described.

    Academic text (2015)
  • When exploring the human hand, consider the best way to visualize the parts for discussion.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Concept Mapping: Concept maps demonstrate how people visualize relationships between various concepts.

    Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

to imagine
vsto visualize
∞ 1.3

To form a picture in your mind of something not real

leans toward making a formed mental image rather than only a general idea
to see
vsto visualize
∞ 1.0

To picture something in your mind

is used to form a clearer, more detailed mental image in the mind
to picture
vsto visualize
366 2.9

To imagine how something looks

is more about deliberately producing a formed mental image
to envision
vsto visualize
160 4.1

To picture something in your mind, often a possible future

is used more generally for making mental images, not limited to future cases
to conceive of
vsto visualize
46 5.3

To imagine something as possible or real

emphasizes making a formed mental image rather than just having an abstract idea
to fancy
vsto visualize
38 4.4

To imagine something as possible

is used for forming a clearer, intentional mental image rather than mere speculation
to envisage
vsto visualize
12 6.8

To form a picture in your mind of something not present

is a general term for forming mental images, not only for possibilities

How Vivid

to envision
160 4.1
to visualize
  • US
71 3.8
to picture
366 2.9
to imagine
∞ 1.3

Surface Forms

visualize infinitive
visualized past
visualized past participle
visualizing present participle
visualizes third person singular

Morphology

visualize = visual (transparent) = visual + ize

The mental-imagery sense is a common, compositional extension of 'visual' + '-ize' meaning 'make visual (in the mind)'.

Etymology

Visualize also uses the same parts visual 'related to seeing' and -ize 'make', so a helpful way to remember it is 'to make a picture' in your mind. That's why to visualize can mean to imagine or to 'see' something inside your head.