Phrase guide

imaginary geometry

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Absolute geometry, an axiomatised geometry in which the parallel postulate is absent and not replaced by an alternative, and of which Euclidean geometry and some non-Euclidean geometries are subtypes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: geometry, mathematics, sciences

Examples

  • 1879, Frederick Pollock, Introduction, Part 1: Biographical, Leslie Stephen, Frederick Pollock (editors), William Kingdon Clifford, Lectures and Essays, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, page 14, He liked talking about imaginary geometry, as a matter of pure amusement, to anyone interested in it. But at the same time he attached a serious import to it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Calque of Russian мни́мая геометрия (mnímaja geometrija), coined by mathematician Nicolai Lobachevsky, probably influenced by мни́мое чи́сло (mnímoje číslo, “imaginary number”), although his precise reasoning is unknown.

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Russian: мни́мая геометрия (mnímaja geometrija) — geometry with no parallel postulate — see also absolute geometry