Visioning

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of creating a clear mental picture or plan about the future or a desired outcome
2. The process of imagining or conceptualizing something that may come to be, often used in planning or creative thinking
3. The skill or practice of envisioning future possibilities or goals to guide decisions and actions

Etymology: "Visioning" is the present participle and gerund of "vision," so its history is that of the noun. The root sits in Latin "videre," "to see," whose past participle "visus" ("that which is seen") gave rise to "visio," meaning "seeing" or "vision." That noun passed through Old French "vision" into Middle English, where "visioun" meant both the act of seeing and something seen in a dream or trance, a sense that remains in the noun today. The verb form is much more recent in its current sense. Its meaning of imagining future plans or possibilities grew out of the older idea of a vision as a mental picture of what might be. Forming the participle from "vision" simply turned that noun into an activity, so the word now describes the mental work of picturing what could come next.

Synonyms: imagining, envisioning, visualizing