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Imaginary vs Virtual - What's the difference?

imaginary | virtual |

As adjectives the difference between imaginary and virtual

is that imaginary is existing only in the imagination while virtual is in effect or essence, if not in fact or reality; imitated, simulated.

As nouns the difference between imaginary and virtual

is that imaginary is imagination; fancy while virtual is in C++, a virtual member function of a class.

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)

    virtual

    English

    (wikipedia virtual)

    Alternative forms

    * vertual (obsolete) * vertuall (qualifier) * virtuall (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • In effect or essence, if not in fact or reality; imitated, simulated.
    • In fact a defeat on the battlefield, Tet was a virtual victory for the North, owing to its effect on public opinion.
    Virtual addressing allows applications to believe that there is much more physical memory than actually exists.
  • * Fleming
    • A thing has a virtual existence when it has all the conditions necessary to its actual existence.
  • * De Quincey
    • to mask by slight differences in the manners a virtual identity in the substance
  • Having the power of acting or of invisible efficacy without the agency of the material or measurable part; potential.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • Heat and cold have a virtual transition, without communication of substance.
  • * Milton
    • Every kind that lives, / Fomented by his virtual power, and warmed.
  • Nearly, almost. (A relatively recent corruption of meaning, attributed to misuse in advertising and media. )
    • The angry peasants were a virtual army as they attacked the castle.
  • * 2012 , Chelsea 6-0 Wolves [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19632463]
    • The Chelsea captain was a virtual spectator as he was treated to his side's biggest win for almost two years as Stamford Bridge serenaded him with chants of "there's only one England captain," some 48 hours after he announced his retirement from international football.
  • Simulated in a computer or online.
    • The virtual world of his computer game allowed character interaction.
  • Operating by computer or in cyberspace; not physically present.
    • a virtual''' assistant; a '''virtual personal trainer
  • (computing, object-oriented programming, of a class member) Capable of being overridden with a different implementation in a subclass.
  • (physics) Pertaining to particles in temporary existence due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

    • Synonyms

    * de facto

    Antonyms

    * de jure * legal * real

    Derived terms

    * virtual reality * virtually

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing) In C++, a virtual member function of a class.
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