imagism

I1M3A1G2I1S1M3
/ˈɪmɪd͡ʒɪzəm/

noun

A form of poetry utilising precise imagery and clear language.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

imagism1

nounimagism (usually uncountable, plural imagisms)

plural imagisms · alternative Imagism

  1. uncountableusuallycommunicationsA form of poetry utilising precise imagery and clear language.
  2. uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesThe theory that thinking is based on the formation of images in the mind.

Imagism2

nounImagism (uncountable)
  1. alternativeuncountableAlternative form of imagism.

    In contrast, the short-line poetry that flowered in Imagism offers a kind of homogeneity that follows its own set of decorums, tending to exclude other modes.

    2001, Chris Beyers, A History of Free Verse, page 135
    2 more examples

    The same will be true of Imagism: a certain degree of variation from a purist definition of the school will take us to a kind of poetry that “Imagism" can no longer describe, although we may still wish to speak of Imagistic tendencies or echoes in the derivative verse.

    1989, Brian Trehearne, Aestheticism and the Canadian Modernists, page 40

    While in general the male 'Imagists' had either never positively committed to Imagism per se (D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce) or had moved on to other projects (Pound, Wyndham Lewis) without being succeeded by a second generation, for these women Imagism opened up more long-term possibilities.

    2001, Georgina Taylor, H.D. and the Public Sphere of Modernist Women Writers, page 81

Origin

Translations

Polish imagizm, imaginizm
  • imagizmBritish and American poetic movement
  • imaginizmBritish and American poetic movement
Russian имажи́зм
  • имажи́зм (imažízm)British and American poetic movement
Cite this entry
APA

imagism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/imagism

MLA

“imagism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/imagism. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “imagism,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/imagism.

Source: imagism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.