Dictionary

envisage en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ɪnˈvɪzɪd͡ʒ/ (UK)
• /ɛnˈvɪzɪd͡ʒ/ (US)
• (US) audio
• ĕn-vĭz′ĭj

Etymology

From French envisager, from en (“in”) + visage (“visage”); equivalent to en- + visage.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To conceive or see something within one's mind; to imagine or envision.
   • Traffic at Dover Marine has developed far beyond anything envisaged when the station was built. The layout has become rather cramped, and prodigies of organisation are performed annually by all concerned to save complete saturation. 1959 October 14, T. W. E. Roche, “Traffic Working at Dover Marine Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 680:
   • 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. 1964 April, G. Freeman Allen, “The BRB shows traders the Liner train prototypes”, in Modern Railways, page 262:
   • 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? 2020 April 8, Howard Johnston, “East-ended? When the ECML was at risk”, in Rail, page 69:
   • From the very dawn of existence the infant must envisage self, and body acting on self. 1860, James McCosh, The Intuitions of the Mind Inductively Investigated:
   • Obviously, Schmitt envisaged Nazi Germany as the Reich at the heart of the European great space, which he sought to shield from Anglo-American interference. 2026 January 16, Brendan Simms, “Has a Nazi theorist’s vision of a world divided into ‘great spaces’ found a new advocate in Trump?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 Jan 2026:

Forms

Deriveds

envisagable · envisagement

Relateds

vision · visual · evidence · visualize · visualization · visionary · reenvisage · reenvisagement · visage · envision

Translations (32)

fi nähdä mielessään (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · es imaginarse (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · bg представям си (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · es prever (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · el οραματίζομαι (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · ru обду́мывать (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · ru размышля́ть (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · fr prévoir (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · hu elképzel (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · es imaginar (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · sv föreställa sig (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · hu előrelát (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · es concebir (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · fr envisager (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · da forestille (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · pl przedstawiać (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · fi visioida (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · pt conjeturar (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · sh предочити (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · sh predočiti (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · el φαντάζομαι (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · sh zamisliti (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · ru вообража́ть (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · de vorstellen (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · ru представля́ть (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · ru рассма́тривать (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · es visualizar (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · pt imaginar (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · fi kuvitella (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · fi kaavailla (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · sh замислити (to conceive or see something within in one's mind) · tr öngörmek (to conceive or see something within in one's mind)