Able to create fresh ideas, images, or approaches beyond the obvious.
Reach for it when praising original thinking in a person, solution, or creative work
Her imaginative route turned the safety lesson into a neighborhood treasure hunt.
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday | |
| warm | |
| professional | |
| formal | |
| literary |
playful
Fits when fanciful charm and light surprise define the work
Careful Whimsy is wrong for serious innovation or sober problem-solving.
everyday
Fits when broad ability to make or conceive something new is meant
Careful Creative can describe production skill without the vivid possibility-making of imaginative.
everyday
Fits when constraints are overcome using available materials or knowledge
Careful Resourcefulness may rearrange familiar options without creating anything fresh.
warm
Fits when the person sees an ambitious future others have not yet grasped
Careful It overstates a clever local solution or playful idea.
professional
Fits when original thinking produces a workable device or method
Careful Inventive is too practical when the achievement is atmosphere, story, or imagery.
professional
Fits when the idea is recognizably new rather than copied
Careful Originality alone does not show richness, usefulness, or imaginative range.
formal
Fits when the solution is both cleverly novel and effective
Careful Ingenious sounds too evaluative for free-form fantasy or expressive art.
literary
Fits when imagery awakens vivid associations or feelings in the audience
Careful Evocative judges the effect of a work, not the creator's breadth of ideas.
imaginative solution
The imaginative solution used folding shelves to share the narrow room.
imaginative child
The imaginative child mapped an entire kingdom beneath the kitchen table.
highly imaginative
The highly imaginative production made one lantern stand for the moon.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vininn126, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated
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