FIGURATIVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Figurative

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/fˈɪgjərətɪv/ Listen

adjective

Figurative adj.

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."

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

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

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."

Figurative counterpoint or Figurative descant. See under Figurate.

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Etymology of 'Figurative'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Figurative" Quotes from Famous Books

... problems of clergymen would be much easier. And it is precisely because people will not tell us what they feel that we are left in the dark and cannot help them. Of course, the language of St. John about the future is figurative." ...

— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... either be figurative or literal—upon the ashes where the fire had been; even as the father of Sayf al-Muluk sat upon the floor of ...

— Supplemental Nights, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton

... worship of Nats[173] or spirits of various kinds. Of the prevalence of such worship there is no doubt, but I cannot agree with the authorities who say that it is the practical religion of the Burmese. No passing tourist can fail to see that in the literal as well as figurative sense Burma takes its colour from Buddhism, from the gilded and vermilion pagodas and the yellow robed priests. It is impossible that so much money should be given, so many lives dedicated to a religion which ...

— Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Charles Eliot

... me, sir," said Denham quietly. "I was not speaking in a figurative way, but in plain, downright English. That really is part of an ancient gold-mine, in which the water has collected in course ...

— Charge! - A Story of Briton and Boer • George Manville Fenn

... above given from beginning to end is figurative, a piece of far-fetched, enigmatical symbolism in the lower plane ...

— Unwritten Literature of Hawaii - The Sacred Songs of the Hula • Nathaniel Bright Emerson

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