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Wonder vs Imagination - What's the difference?

wonder | imagination |

As nouns the difference between wonder and imagination

is that wonder is something that causes amazement or awe; a marvel while imagination is the image-making power of the mind; the act of creating or reproducing ideally an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.

As a verb wonder

is to be affected with surprise or admiration; to be struck with astonishment; to be amazed; to marvel.

wonder

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Something that causes amazement or awe; a marvel.
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.}}
  • Something astonishing and seemingly inexplicable.
  • Someone very talented at something, a genius.
  • The sense or emotion which can be inspired by something curious or unknown; surprise; astonishment.
  • * (Plato), Theætetus (section 155d)
  • Socrates: I see, my dear Theaetetus, that Theodorus had a true insight into your nature when he said that you were a philosopher, for wonder' is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in ' wonder . He was not a bad genealogist who said that Iris (the messenger of heaven) is the child of Thaumas (wonder).
  • * Bible, (w) iii. 10
  • They were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
  • * 1781 , (Samuel Johnson), The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets
  • All wonder is the effect of novelty upon ignorance.
  • (UK, informal) A mental pondering, a thought.
  • * 1934 , Katharine Tynan, The house of dreams
  • Miss Paynter had a little wonder as to whether the man, as she called Mr. Lacy in her own mind, had ever been admitted to this room. She thought not.

    Derived terms

    * bewonder * boy wonder * girl wonder * gutless wonder * little wonder * nine day wonder * no wonder * one hit wonder * * small wonder * Wonder Woman * wonderberry * wonderboy * wonderbra * wonderchild * wonderdrug * wonderful * wonderland * wonderment * wondrous, wonderous * wonderworker * work wonders

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be affected with surprise or admiration; to be struck with astonishment; to be amazed; to marvel.
  • * (Jonathan Swift), (w, Gulliver's Travels)
  • I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals.
  • * Johnson
  • We cease to wonder at what we understand.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
  • To ponder; to feel doubt and curiosity; to wait with uncertain expectation; to query in the mind.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • I wonder , in my soul, / What you would ask me, that I should deny.

    Derived terms

    * wonderer

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    imagination

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The image-making power of the mind; the act of creating or reproducing ideally an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.
  • Imagination is one of the most advanced human faculties.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1913, author=
  • , title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=5 citation , passage=She removed Stranleigh’s coat with a dexterity that aroused his imagination .}}
  • Particularly, construction of false images; fantasizing.
  • You think someone's been following you? That's just your imagination .
  • Creativity; resourcefulness.
  • His imagination makes him a valuable team member.
  • A mental image formed by the action of the imagination as a faculty; a conception; a notion; an imagining; something imagined.
  • * 1597 , Francis Bacon, "Of Youth and Age", Essays :
  • And yet the invention of young men, is more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and, as it were, more divinely.

    Synonyms

    * (the representative power) creativity, fancy, imaginativeness, invention, inventiveness