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Imagine vs Consider - What's the difference?

imagine | consider |

As verbs the difference between imagine and consider

is that imagine is to form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one's mind while consider is (label) to think about seriously.

imagine

English

Verb

  • To form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one's mind.
  • * Shakespeare
  • In the night, imagining some fear, / How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined . Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • To believe in something created by one's own mind.
  • To assume.
  • To conjecture or guess.
  • To use one's imagination.
  • (obsolete) To contrive in purpose; to scheme; to devise.
  • * Bible, Psalms lxii. 3
  • How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . See

    Synonyms

    * (l)

    Derived terms

    * imaginable * imaginal * imaginary * imagination * imaginative

    consider

    English

    Alternative forms

    * considre (archaic)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To think about seriously.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Thenceforth to speculations high or deep / I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind / Considered all things visible.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-03-15, volume=410, issue=8878, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Turn it off , passage=If the takeover is approved, Comcast would control 20 of the top 25 cable markets, […]. Antitrust officials will need to consider Comcast’s status as a monopsony (a buyer with disproportionate power), when it comes to negotiations with programmers, whose channels it pays to carry.}}
  • (label) To think of doing.
  • (label) To assign some quality to.
  • * (1800-1859)
  • Considered as plays, his works are absurd.
  • *
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=Mother very rightly resented the slightest hint of condescension. She considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom,
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War. […]’}}
  • (label) To look at attentively.
  • * Bible, (w) xxxi. 16
  • She considereth a field, and buyeth it.
  • (label) To take up as an example.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.}}
  • To debate or dispose of a motion.
  • To have regard to; to take into view or account; to pay due attention to; to respect.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Consider , sir, the chance of war: the day / Was yours by accident.
  • * (1628–1699)
  • England could grow into a posture of being more united at home, and more considered abroad.

    Usage notes

    * In sense 2, this is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See .

    Synonyms

    * (think about seriously) bethink, reflect on * (think of doing) think of, bethink * (assign a quality) deem, regard, think of; see also * (look at closely) regard, observe * (debate a motion) deliberate, bethink * (include in an estimate or plan) take into account