envisage

English

Etymology

From French envisager, from en (“in”) + visage (“visage”); see English visage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛnˈvɪzɪd͡ʒ/, /ɪnˈvɪzɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US)

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Verb

envisage (third-person singular simple present envisages, present participle envisaging, simple past and past participle envisaged)

1. To conceive or see something within one's mind; to imagine or envision.
   • 1860, James McCosh, The Intuitions of the Mind Inductively Investigated:

     From the very dawn of existence the infant must envisage self, and body acting on self.

   • 1964 April, G. Freeman Allen, “The BRB shows traders the Liner train prototypes”, in Modern Railways, page 262:

     The prototype Liner train vehicles on show at Marylebone were not of the ultimate pattern either, for their wagon platform length is 42½ft, whereas 62½ft as envisaged as standard.

   • 2020 April 8, Howard Johnston, “East-ended? When the ECML was at risk”, in Rail, page 69:

     Cambridge-St Ives was another 1970 victim. Who would have envisaged that £200m would ever be spent on this rural branch to convert it into a guided busway?

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• “envisage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “envisage”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Verb

envisage

1. inflection of envisager:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• vengeais