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Imaginary vs Vain - What's the difference?

imaginary | vain | Related terms |

Imaginary is a related term of vain.


As nouns the difference between imaginary and vain

is that imaginary is imagination; fancy while vain is .

As an adjective imaginary

is existing only in the imagination.

imaginary

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • existing only in the imagination
  • * Addison
    • Wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer / Imaginary ills and fancied tortures?
  • (mathematics) of a number, having no real part; that part of a complex number which is a multiple of the square root of -1.

    • Derived terms

    * imaginarily * imaginariness

    Noun

    (imaginaries)
  • Imagination; fancy.
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, p. 324:
    • By then too Mozart's opera, from Da Ponte's libretto, had made Figaro a stock character in the European imaginary and set the whole Continent whistling Mozartian airs and chuckling at Figaresque humour.
  • (mathematics) An imaginary quantity.

    • External links

    * (Imaginary number)

    vain

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.
  • * (rfdate) Leo Rosten
    • Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain ; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.
  • Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • thy vain excuse
  • * Bible, (w) v. 6
    • Let no man deceive you with vain words.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
    • Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.
  • Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
    • Vain is the force of man / To crush the pillars which the pile sustain.
  • * (rfdate) William of Occam
    • It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
    • , chapter=6, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.}}
  • Showy; ostentatious.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
    • Load some vain church with old theatric state.

    Synonyms

    * (overly proud of oneself) conceited; puffed up; inflated * (pointless) pointless, futile, fruitless, ineffectual * See also * See also

    Derived terms

    * in vain * vainness * vainly

    Related terms

    * vanity

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * English terms with homophones ----