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envisage

verb

en·vis·agein-ˈvi-zij How to pronounce envisage (audio)

en-

envisaged;envisaging

Synonyms ofenvisage next

transitive verb

:to view or regard in a certain way

envisages the slum as a hotbed of crime

:to have a mental picture of especially in advance of realization

envisages an entirely new system of education

Did you know?

Envisage this: a word is borrowed from French in the mid-17th century and sticks around to be used in the 21st. It’s not hard to picture;envisage is not alone in this accomplishment. Used today to mean “to have a mental picture of something, especially in advance of realization” and “to view or regard something in a certain way,”envisage for a time could also mean “to confront or face someone.” That use, which is now archaic, nods to the word’s origin: we borrowedenvisage from French, but thevisage part is from Anglo-Frenchvis, meaning “face.” (It reaches back ultimately to Greekidein, “to see.”)Visage is of course also an English word. It entered English much earlier, in the 14th century, and is typically used today in literary contexts to refer to a person’s face.Envisage isn’t necessarily restricted to literary contexts, but it does have a formal tone. Its near twinenvision (“to picture to oneself”), which has been with us since the 19th century, is interchangeable withenvisage in many contexts and is somewhat less formal.

Synonyms ofenvisage

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Choose the Right Synonym forenvisage

think,conceive,imagine,fancy,realize,envisage,envision mean to form an idea of.

think implies the entrance of an idea into one's mind with or without deliberate consideration or reflection.

I justthought of a good joke

conceive suggests the forming and bringing forth and usually developing of an idea, plan, or design.

conceived of a new marketing approach

imagine stresses a visualization.

imagine you're at the beach

fancy suggests an imagining often unrestrained by reality but spurred by desires.

fancied himself a super athlete

realize stresses a grasping of the significance of what is conceived or imagined.

realized the enormity of the task ahead

envisage andenvision imply a conceiving or imagining that is especially clear or detailed.

envisaged a totally computerized operation

envisioned a cure for the disease

Examples ofenvisage in a Sentence

Ienvisage a day when proper health care will be available to everyone. I'm trying toenvisage you on a surfboard.

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage.Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.Send us feedback.

Guarneri will alsoenvisage the culinary concept throughout the property.—

Sofia Celeste,Footwear News, 4 Feb. 2026Those questions became more urgent two days later as Liverpool recorded their first win of the season and West Ham United defeated Leicester, dragging Everton into a relegation battle fewenvisaged at the season’s start.—

Megan Feringa,New York Times, 4 Feb. 2026Although best known as a sculptor, Sanadzeenvisages the project as a collection of mixed-media works, each using the flowers in different ways.—

Oscar Holland,CNN Money, 22 Jan. 2026The $20 billion project led by state-run YPF SA and Italy’s Eni SpAenvisages construction of at least two floating liquefaction vessels with annual capacity for 12 million tons off Argentina’s Atlantic coast.—

Jonathan Gilbert,Bloomberg, 14 Jan. 2026See All Example Sentences forenvisage