1
: to view or regard in a certain way envisages the slum as a hotbed of crime2
: 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 borrowed envisage from French, but the visage part is from Anglo-French vis, meaning “face.” (It reaches back ultimately to Greek idein, “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 twin envision (“to picture to oneself”), which has been with us since the 19th century, is interchangeable with envisage in many contexts and is somewhat less formal.
Choose the Right Synonym for envisage
I just thought 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 and envision imply a conceiving or imagining that is especially clear or detailed.
envisaged a totally computerized operation
envisioned a cure for the disease
Examples of envisage in a SentenceI envisage a day when proper health care will be available to everyone. I'm trying to envisage 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. Shortly after its dawn, dresses produced by Paris’ leading fashion houses, such as Poiret, Chanel and Lanvin, were envisaged with the same geometric, linear designs and intricate decorations that were characteristic of the revolutionary movement. —Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 24 Apr. 2025 Before the Budapest Memorandum, Clinton’s preferred method envisaged Ukraine and other potential NATO members joining an interim grouping that would enable them to join the alliance later. —Foreign Affairs, 9 Apr. 2025 Arteta relaxed the load from some of his main players but the drip-feed method in which they were introduced perhaps provides a glance into what Arteta envisages as the future of squad rotation. —Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2025 This was never going to be a quick fix, and while United have clearly rigged their mast in a new direction, early waters have been choppier than anyone envisaged. —Chris Weatherspoon, The Athletic, 18 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for envisage Word HistoryEtymology
French envisager, from en- + visage face
First Known Use
1660, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Time Traveler
The first known use of envisage was in 1660 Cite this Entry“Envisage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/envisage. Accessed 10 May. 2025.
Last Updated: 30 Apr 2025 - Updated example sentencesLove words? Need even more definitions?
Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!
Merriam-Webster unabridged More from Merriam-Webster Popular in Grammar & UsageRetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue
Search and Browse the WWW like it's 1997 | Search results from DuckDuckGo
HTML:
3.2
| Encoding:
UTF-8
| Version:
0.7.3