mental image
7
3.8
- noun
:
imagen mental
- As she described the beautiful landscape, I could easily form a mental image of the rolling hills and blue sky.
- create mental images
- form mental images
- construct a mental image
He can't kind of construct a stable mental image of nearby places.
- He can't kind of construct a stable mental image of nearby places.
- Once you see the idea, you'll see that your mental image of that was not right.
- If I had a mental image of myself as a great spiritual teacher, I would be lost.
- He, he, he's he he has a mental image of a, of a missile striking a ship in some desert off of some desert country.
- So I appreciate that mental image of the Big Mother.
- And then they send each other dirty mental images.
- We sort of lay it out for ourselves and mental images and say the goodwill or this pleasure, right?
Examples
-
Tia chuckled at the mental image of Kenny frozen in place and unable to move.
Fiction book (1992) -
Once you see the idea, you'll see that your mental image of that was not right.
-
If I had a mental image of myself as a great spiritual teacher, I would be lost.
-
Over the winter, she had constructed a mental image of what her life would be like.
Fiction book (1994) -
I'm starting to get a mental image.
-
The more afraid the prey becomes, the more defined the mental image becomes to us.
-
That's a mental image I was trying to avoid.
-
A concrete mental image of what needs to be accomplished comes before trying to accomplish it.
Academic text (2009) -
The reader begins to acquire information about the historical period and starts creating mental images of that time.
Academic text (1998) -
Most Americans have a mental image of Iraq that is defined by the chaos of 2006.
Academic text (2008)
Synonyms
445
3.3
A picture you form in your mind from words or ideas
8
3.5
A clear image you form in your mind
4
3.8
A picture in your mind of something you have seen
1
6.7
An idea in your mind that stands for something you remember or imagine
An image you make in your mind when you imagine something
A picture in the mind people make to imagine the outside world
How Vivid
140
7.5
102
3.3
- Specialized
14
5.2
7
3.8
- Literature
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a picture or representation formed in the mind' is directly and transparently composed from 'mental' (pertaining to the mind) + 'image' (a picture). This is a straightforward adjective + noun combination with no idiomatic shift, and the same logic exists in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.
Etymology
The phrase mental image is a simple picture made in your head. Mental means 'in the mind' and image means 'picture', so the phrase refers to a 'picture' you form of something that is not actually there.