imaginable
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
possible to think of or imagine.
capable of being imagined or conceived by the mind.
Simple“The hotel offered every imaginable luxury to its wealthy guests.”
In context“The designer explored every imaginable color combination before finally settling on the muted palette for the winter collection.”
UsageOften follows the noun it modifies, especially when used with superlatives like 'best', 'worst', or 'every'.
Teacher's tipLearners often confuse this with 'imaginary'. Remind them that 'imaginable' means it *could* exist, while 'imaginary' means it is *not real*.
PitfallIt was the most imaginable beautiful view. It was the most beautiful view imaginable.When using 'imaginable' to emphasize a superlative like 'most beautiful', it usually comes after the noun it describes.
SynonymsAntonyms
“He had to be the most weird, confused, un-self-aware person imaginable, and I think an older British man is a good way of getting to that.”
From Middle English ymaginable, from Latin imāginābilis; equivalent to imagine + -able.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.