HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
n. 1. a. A representation of the form of a person or object, such as a painting or photograph. b. A sculptured likeness. 2. Physics An optically formed duplicate, counterpart, or other representative reproduction of an object, especially an optical reproduction formed by a lens or mirror. 3. a. One that closely or exactly resembles another: He is the image of his uncle. b. Likeness; semblance: Genesis says that man was made in the image of God. 4. a. The opinion or concept of something that is held by the public: the public's image of business leaders as greedy. b. The concept or character projected to the public, as by a person or institution, especially as interpreted by the mass media: an actor who tried to convey an image of refined beauty. 5. A typical example or embodiment: That child is the image of good health. 6. A mental picture of something not real or present: Our image of the cottage did not conform with reality. 7. A vivid description or representation in words, especially a metaphor or simile: The poem uses the image of a barren tree to convey feelings of desolation. 8. Mathematics A set of values of a function corresponding to a particular subset of a domain. 9. Computers An exact replica of the contents of a storage device, such as a hard disk, stored on a second storage device, such as a network server. 10. Obsolete An apparition. tr.v. im·aged, im·ag·ing, im·ag·es 1. a. To make or produce a likeness of: imaged the poet in bronze. b. To mirror or reflect: a statue imaged in the water. c. To make a visual representation of (an object) using remote scanning or technology such as magnetic resonance imaging: imaged the diseased kidneys; imaged the surface of Mars. 2. To symbolize or typify: a kneeling woman imaging the nation's grief. 3. To picture mentally; imagine or visualize: imaged each dive before doing it. 4. To describe, especially so vividly as to evoke a mental picture: The passage images what it's like to grow up poor. 5. Computers a. To print (a file) using a laser printer, imagesetter, direct-to-plate press, or similar device. b. To transmit (an exact replica of the contents of a storage device) to another storage device: imaged the hard drive to the server. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin imāgō; see aim- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] image·less adj. imag·er n. i·magi·nal (ĭ-măjə-nəl) adj. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
