Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun, plural im·age·ries.
- the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively: the dim imagery of a dream.
- pictorial images, as in works of art.
- the use of rhetorical images.
- figurative description or illustration; rhetorical images collectively.
- Psychology. mental images collectively, especially those produced by the action of imagination.
noun plural -ries
- figurative or descriptive language in a literary work
- images collectively
- psychol
- the materials or general processes of the imagination
- the characteristic kind of mental images formed by a particular individualSee also image (def. 7), imagination (def. 1)
- military the presentation of objects reproduced photographically (by infrared or electronic means) as prints or electronic displays
mid-14c., “piece of sculpture, carved figures,” from Old French imagerie (13c.), from imagier “painter,” from image (see image (n.)). Meaning “ornate description” (in poetry, etc.) is from 1580s.
n.
- A set of mental pictures or images.
- A technique in behavior therapy in which the patient is conditioned to use pleasant fantasies to counteract the unpleasant feelings associated with anxiety.
The mental pictures created by a piece of writing: “The imagery of “The Waste Land” — crumbling towers, dried-up wells, toppled tombstones — conveys the author’s sense of a civilization in decay.”