Section Vii. Creative Thought

#514. Supposition.—N. supposition, assumption, assumed position, postulation, condition, presupposition, hypothesis, blue sky hypothesis, postulate, postulatum, theory; thesis, theorem; data; proposition, position; proposal &c. (plan) 626; presumption &c. (belief) 484; divination. conjecture; guess, guesswork, speculation; rough guess, shot, shot in the dark [coll.]; conjecturality; surmise, suspicion, sneaking suspicion; estimate, approximation (nearness) 197. inkling, suggestion, hint, intimation, notion, impression; bare supposition, vague supposition, loose supposition, loose suggestion. association of ideas, (analogy) 514a; metonym, metonymy, simile (metaphor) 521. conceit, idea, thought; original idea, invention (imagination) 515. V. suppose, conjecture, surmise, suspect, guess, divine; theorize; presume, presurmise, presuppose; assume, fancy, wis, take it; give a guess, speculate, believe, dare say, take it into one's head, take for granted; imagine &c. 515. put forth; propound, propose; start, put a case, submit, move, make a motion; hazard out, throw out a suggestion, put forward a suggestion, put forward conjecture. allude to, suggest, hint, put it into one's head. suggest itself &c. (thought) 451; run in the head &c. (memory) 505; marvel if, wonder if, wonder whether. Adj. supposing &c. v.; given, mooted, postulatory; assumed &c. v.; supposititious, suppositive, suppositious; gratuitous, speculative, conjectural, hypothetical, theoretical, academic, supposable, presumptive, putative; suppositional. suggestive, allusive. Adv. if, if so be; an; on the supposition &c. n.;ex hypothesi; in the case, in the event of; quasi, as if, provided; perhaps &c. (by possibility) 470; for aught one knows.

#514a. Analogy—N. analogy, association, association of ideas. # metaphor &c. 521. analogical thinking; free association; train of thought. Adj. analogical.

#515. Imagination.—N. imagination; originality; invention; fancy; inspiration; verve. warm imagination, heated imagination, excited imagination, sanguine imagination, ardent imagination, fiery imagination, boiling imagination, wild imagination, bold imagination, daring imagination, playful imagination, lively imagination, fertile imagination, fancy. "mind's eye"; "such stuff as dreams are made of" [Tempest]. ideality, idealism; romanticism, utopianism, castle-building. dreaming; phrensy, frenzy; ecstasy, extasy; calenture &c. (delirium) 503; reverie, trance; day dream, golden dream; somnambulism. conception, Vorstellung, excogitation, "a fine frenzy"; cloudland, dreamland; flight of fancy, fumes of fancy; "thick coming fancies" [Macbeth]; creation of the brain, coinage of the brain; imagery. conceit, maggot, figment, myth, dream, vision, shadow, chimera; phantasm, phantasy; fantasy, fancy; whim, whimsey, whimsy; vagary, rhapsody, romance, gest, geste, extravaganza; air drawn dagger, bugbear, nightmare. flying Dutchman, great sea serpent, man in the moon, castle in the air, pipe dream, pie-in-the-sky, chateau en Espagne; Utopia, Atlantis, happy valley, millennium, fairyland; land of Prester John, kingdom of Micomicon; work of fiction &c. (novel) 594; Arabian nights; le pot au lait; dream of Alnashar &c. (hope) 858. illusion &c. (error) 495; phantom &c. (fallacy of vision) 443; Fata Morgana &c. (ignis fatuus) 423; vapor &c. (cloud) 353; stretch of the imagination &c. (exaggeration) 549; mythogenesis. idealist, romanticist, visionary; mopus; romancer, dreamer; somnambulist; rhapsodist &c. (fanatic) 504; castle-buildier, fanciful projector. V. imagine, fancy, conceive; idealize, realize; dream, dream of, dream up; "give to airy nothing a local habitation and a name" [Midsummer Night's Dream]. create, originate, devise, invent, coin, fabricate; improvise, strike out something new. set one's wits to work; strain one's invention, crack one's invention; rack one's brains, ransack one's brains, cudgel one's brains; excogitate; brainstorm. give play, give the reins, give a loose to the imagination, give fancy; indulge in reverie. visualize, envision, conjure up a vision; fancy oneself, represent oneself, picture, picture-oneself, figure to oneself; vorstellen. float in the mind; suggest itself &c. (thought) 451. Adj. imagined &c. v.; ben trovato; air drawn, airbuilt. imagining &cv. v, imaginative; original, inventive, creative, fertile. romantic, high flown, flighty, extravagant, fanatic, enthusiastic, unrealistic, Utopian, Quixotic. ideal, unreal; in the clouds, in nubibus; unsubsantial &c. 4; illusory &c. (fallacious) 495. fabulous, legendary; mythical, mythic, mythological; chimerical; imaginary, visionary; notional; fancy, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical; whimsical; fairy, fairy-like; gestic. Phr. "a change came o'er the spirit of my dream" [Byron]; aegri somnia vana; dolphinum appingit sylvis in fluctibus aprum [Latin][Horace]; "fancy light from fancy caught" [Tennyson]; "imagination rules the world" [Napoleon]; l'imagination gallope, le jugement ne va que le pas[French]; musaeo contingens cuncta lepore [Latin][Lucretius]; tous songes sont mensonges[French]; Wahrheil und Dichtung[German].

DIVISION (II) COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS