imaginarilyadv.
/ɪˈmadʒᵻn(ə)rᵻli/, /ɪˈmadʒᵻn(ə)rl̩i/, /ɪˈmadʒn̩(ə)rᵻli/, /ɪˈmadʒn̩(ə)rl̩i/, U.S. /ᵻˌmædʒəˈnɛrəli/ΚΠ
1567 T. Harding Reioindre to M. Iewels Replie against Masse viii. f. 134 The same man first of al expressed imaginarily (or in image) the Mysterie of this so great a Sacrifice, foreshewing the likenesse of our Lorde and Sauiour.
2. In an imaginary way; in imagination.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > [adverb]
imaginativelyc1450
imaginarily1593
in idea1622
ideoplastically1922
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 34 My hart shall receiue an iniunction imaginarily to disinherite him.
1631 S. Jerome Arraignem. Whole Creature xvi. 285 Perplexed with what he eyther really or imaginarily wanteth.
1660 H. More Explan. Grand Myst. Godliness viii. iv. 375 Even as Christ was righteous, who was not..imaginarily righteous, but really so indeed.
1779 G. Keate Sketches from Nature (ed. 2) I. 53 On he would go, tho' imaginarily ill.
1874 J. L. Motley Life John of Barneveld II. xi. 36 The places which they are now imaginarily to leave.
1932 Mind 41 102 The ‘seeing’..takes place imaginarily only and not perceptually.
1992 M. Blonsky Amer. Mythologies (1993) xv. 343 The Americans have imaginarily effaced social division, disquietude, contradiction in general.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1567