Figurative

How to spell figurative

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce figurative

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does figurative mean?

1. adjectiveUsing words in a metaphorical or non-literal sense rather than their plain meaning.
2. adjectiveDepicting recognisable people, objects, or scenes rather than being abstract.

Figurative in a sentence

• The report used figurative language to describe the company drowning in debt.

• The gallery devoted one wing to figurative painting and another to abstract work.

• When she said the meeting was a circus, she meant it in a figurative way.

• His figurative sculptures clearly depict human figures in motion.

Where does figurative come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin figurativus, meaning 'belonging to a figure of speech', which was built on figura, meaning 'shape', 'form', or 'outline'. That noun in turn came from the verb fingere, meaning 'to form', 'shape', or 'mould', the same root that gives us 'fiction' and 'figment'. The word arrived in English in the late 1300s by way of Old French figuratif, at first describing speech that used metaphor rather than literal statement. Over time it broadened to cover visual art that represents recognisable objects rather than pure abstraction. The spelling keeps the visible 'figure' inside it, so remembering 'figure + ative' is the surest way to avoid dropping the unstressed middle vowel.

How the word is built

• figur- (from Latin figura: shape, form)
• -ative (adjective suffix)