figure

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

figyur

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US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɪɡjɚ

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body.
A human figure, which dress or corset must fit to; the shape of a human body.
A drawing or diagram conveying information.
A person or thing representing a certain consciousness.
The impression produced by a person
The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person.

verb

transitive
To represent in a picture or drawing.
To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.
chiefly us
To come to understand.
To think, to assume, to suppose, to reckon.
chiefly usintransitive
To be reasonable or predictable.
intransitive
To enter into; to be a part of.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A1 · Beginner
Frequency: Very Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body.

Used this way, figure is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use figure

“A figure of $17 was suggested.”noun
“He made a figure of Santa Claus.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

public figuresee figurecentral figurehuman figurefemale figure

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

figuringnounInflected form
Problem solving that involves numbers or quantities.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

figure skatingnounCompound term
Ice skating where the skates trace outlines of selected figures.
figured bassnounCompound term
A bass part written out in full and accompanied by numbers to indicate the chords to be played.
figured-fabric loomnounCompound term
A loom for weaving figured fabrics.
figure of speechnounCompound term
Language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense.
figure eightnounCompound term
A two-dimensionsal figure having the shape of the number eight.
figure loomnounCompound term
A loom for weaving figured fabrics.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

figurinenounRelated term
A small carved or molded figure.
figurativeadjectiveRelated term
Not literal.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: representation of any form or as by drawing

fig

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.