Imaginative means rich in fresh original ideas. An imaginative solution, imaginative writing, wonderfully imaginative.
It praises the quality of the ideas rather than the quantity, which is what separates it from inventive. Of a child it is high praise and describes a mind that pictures freely what is not really there.
1adjectiveimaginativeRich in fresh original ideas, thanks to a mind that pictures freely what is not really there.
“The children built an imaginative castle out of cardboard boxes and old sheets.”
imaginative is a quality.
Medieval Latin imaginativus comes from imaginari, to picture to oneself, from imago, an image.
Medieval Latin
imāginātīvus
Middle French
imaginatif
Middle English
ymagynatif
English, today
imaginative
From Middle English ymagynatif, from Middle French imaginatif, from Medieval Latin imāginātīvus. by surface analysis, imagine + -ative.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA