English Explanatory Dictionary

figure

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A drawing or diagram conveying information.
  2. The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body.
  3. A person or thing representing a certain consciousness.
  4. The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person.
  5. Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendour; show.
  6. A human figure, which dress or corset must fit to; the shape of a human body.
  7. A numeral.
  8. A number, an amount.
  9. A shape.
  10. A visible pattern as in wood or cloth.
  11. Any complex dance moveᵂ.
  12. A figure of speech.
verb
  1. To calculate, to solve a mathematical problem.
  2. To come to understand.
  3. To think, to assume, to suppose, to reckon.
  4. To be reasonable or predictable.
  5. To enter into; to be a part of.
  6. To represent in a picture or drawing.
  7. To represent by a figure, as to form or mould; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape.
  8. To embellish with design; to adorn with figures.
  9. To indicate by numerals.
  10. To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.
  11. To prefigure; to foreshow.
  12. To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords.

Pronunciation

/ˈfɪɡə/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-figure.wav /ˈfɪɡjɚ/ /ˈfɪɡɚ/ En-us-figure.ogg /ˈfɪɡəɾ/ /ˈfɪɡəɹ/

Word forms

figure figures figuring figured

Etymology

From Middle English figure, borrowed from Old French figure, from Latin figūra (“form, shape, form of a word, a figure of speech, Late Latin a sketch, drawing”), from fingō (“to form, shape, mold, fashion”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold, shape, form, knead”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τεῖχος (teîkhos), Sanskrit देग्धि (dégdhi), Old English dāg (“dough”). More at dough. Doublet of figura.

Related words

figurine figurative figuratively

Derived words

academy figure action figure all-figure number authority figure ball park figure ballpark figure big figure black figure bowling figures break figure Chladni figure Chladni's figure counterfigure cut a figure dark figure double figures eight figures father figure figurate figure 4 figure 9 figure away figure axis figure-caster figure dash figure eight figure-eight figure-eight hitch figure four figure-head figurehead figure-hugging figureless figure loom figure of eight figure-of-eight figure of fun figure of merit figure of speech figure-outable figure poem figure skate figure skater figure skating figuresome figure space figure up figure weaving figurework figurial figurism figurist figurize figury five figures four-figure four figures hate figure hourglass figure lay figure

Translations

Albanian: figurë Bulgarian: фигу́ра Catalan: figura Czech: obrázek Czech: ilustrace Danish: figur Dutch: afbeelding Dutch: figuur Finnish: kuva Finnish: kuvio French: figure Galician: figura German: Abbildung Hebrew: שרטוט Hungarian: ábra Irish: deilbh Irish: amhlachas Italian: figura Latin: figūra Latvian: attēls Persian: دیسه Persian: صورت Persian: تصویر Persian: شکل Polish: rysunek Portuguese: figura Romanian: figură Russian: рису́нок Slovak: obrázok Slovak: ilustrácia Spanish: figura Swedish: figur Turkish: şekil Ottoman Turkish: شكل Ottoman Turkish: رسم Vietnamese: [bức] hình Vietnamese: [bức] ảnh Vietnamese: hình vẽ
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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