Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Figurative

Fig′ur·a·tive, a. [L. figurativus: cf. F. figuratif. See Figurative.] 1. Representing by a figure, or by resemblance; typical; representative.

This, they will say, was figurative, and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity. Hooker.

2. Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; — applied to words and expressions.

3. Abounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid; as, a highly figurative description.

4. Relating to the representation of form or figure by drawing, carving, etc. See Figure, n., 2.

They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form. J. A. Symonds.

Figurative counterpoint or descant. See under Figurate.

— Fig′ur·a·tive·ly, adv. — Fig′ur·a·tive·ness, n.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.