Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Based on or making use of figures of speech; metaphorical: figurative language.
- adj. Containing many figures of speech; ornate.
- adj. Represented by a figure or resemblance; symbolic or emblematic.
- adj. Of or relating to artistic representation by means of animal or human figures.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Representing by means of a figure; manifesting or suggesting by resemblance; typical; emblematic.
- Of the nature of or involving a figure of rhetoric; used in a metaphorical or tropical sense; metaphorical; not literal.
- Abounding with figures of speech; ornate; flowery; florid: as, a description highly figurative.
- In music, same as figurate, 3.
- In geometry, at infinity.
Wiktionary
- adj. Metaphorical or tropical, as opposed to literal; using figures; as of the use of "cats and dogs" in the phrase "It's raining cats and dogs".
- adj. Metaphorically so called
- adj. With many figures of speech
- adj. Emblematic
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Representing by a figure, or by resemblance; typical; representative.
- adj. Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; -- applied to words and expressions.
- adj. Abounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid.
- adj. Relating to the representation of form or figure by drawing, carving, etc. See Figure, n., 2.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech
- adj. consisting of or forming human or animal figures
Examples
“If we inquire for those texts of Scripture which represent the earth as the immovable center of the universe, we shall be referred to the figurative language of the Psalms, the book of Job, and other poetical parts of Scripture, which speak of the "foundations of the earth," "the earth being established," "abiding for ever," and the like, when the slightest attention to the language would show _that it is intended to be figurative_.”
Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith Being an Examination of the Evidences of Infidelity
“The two main figurative mosaics upon the ambo depict Jonah and the whale, with the one side showing his being swallowed by the whale, and the other, his being released -- Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him [Jesus], saying: Master, we would see a sign from thee.”
“You mean the government that enslaved and brutalized blacks, kept women in figurative shackles, founded more than one unnecessary war on falsehoods, detained innocents without charge (sometimes torturing them to the point of death) for years, loosed trigger-happy mercenaries on innocent civilians ...?”
“In segregating out figuration, what I'm suggesting is that the operation at play in figurative language -- metaphor and metonym -- needs to be distinguished from both literal reference-making (mimesis) and abstract pattern-making (autotelesis), understood as discretely purposed.”
“It took me awhile to grasp that you meant slaughtered English in figurative terms.”
“But these things are here foretold, as usual, in figurative expressions, which we are not to look for the literal accomplishment of, and yet they might be fulfilled nearer the letter than we know of.”
“The decays and infirmities of old age are here elegantly described in figurative expressions, which have some difficulty in them to us now, who are not acquainted with the common phrases and metaphors used in Solomon's age and language; but the general scope is plain -- to show how uncomfortable, generally, the days of old age are.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“Needless to say, in giving the term a figurative meaning as well, locals take up the challenge admirably.”
“Namely, loan can’t be used in figurative contexts:”
“The only difference between the verbs loan and lend is that loan can’t be used in figurative senses.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘figurative’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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GRE
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abhor, abjure, abrasive, abridge, abstain, acme, activism, adhere, admonish and 195 more...
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ElRojo
R. Peter Jackson's list
cantillation, jackstaff, pullulate, whoremonger, colloquy, batman, anathema, idiosyncratic, facilitation, sympathy, empathy, satrap and 135 more...
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Yet more words
hootowling, hoot owl, midday, prohibitive, shutdown, gerund, tripe, doweling, detestable, good measure, boojum, undergirding and 167 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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likaluca's Words
recursive, genuflect, libidinous, emote, smote, importune, trill, chillax, overshare, shorn, needle, ego and 162 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Norman Lewis
All Words
ebullient, eccentric, eclectic, edify, efface, effusion, egalitarian, egocentric, egoist, egregious, elicit, elliptical and 907 more...
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Construction
Words around the construction of words
morpheme, riming, phoneme, assonance, euphony, alliteration, rhyme, logos, etymology, similitude, language, syntactic and 87 more...
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ShadowCastingOblivion's Words
poltroon, half-assed, italic, oblivion, mystification, juxtaposition, shadow, casting, dynamic, figurative, paradoxical, prosaic and 1 more...
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GRE 3500 F
facade, facet, facetious, facile, facsimile, fallible, fancy, fanfare, farce, fastidious, fatuous, fauna and 48 more...
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