Imaginatively
adv.capable, energeticeveryday
What it means
In a way that uses original ideas or vivid mental invention.
Reach for it when praising how someone creates, explains, or adapts beyond the obvious
The guide imaginatively linked each sculpture to a sound from the city.
Choose between these
6- playful
light experimentation gives the work its charm
not when Playfully is wrong when imagination serves a serious or restrained purpose.
- everyday
creatively
original making or problem-solving is being praised
not when Creative execution can be practical without involving vivid mental conception.
- professional
resourceful novelty produces a workable result
not when Inventively sounds practical when the achievement is expressive or fanciful.
- professional
limited materials or constraints are handled well
not when Resourcefully need not involve a fresh aesthetic idea.
- formal
originally
the approach differs noticeably from existing ones
not when Originally can also mean at first, and it says less about quality.
- literary
evocatively
images or associations are called up in the audience
not when Evocatively measures emotional suggestion, not overall originality.
Said against
3- conventionally
- literally
- unoriginally
It naturally appears in
3- imaginatively designed
The garden was imaginatively designed around the existing stone walls.
- imaginatively presented
The archive was imaginatively presented as a series of neighborhood voices.
- imaginatively reworked
A familiar melody was imaginatively reworked for three cellos.
The word family
1Where this comes from
- Merriam-Webster, adverb sense 1: in an imaginative manner opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.