adjective [usuallybeforenoun]
1 (of language, words, phrases, etc.) used in a way that is different from the usual meaning, in order to create a particular mental image. For example, 'He exploded with rage' shows a figurative use of the verb 'explode'.
compareLITERAL, METAPHORICAL
2 (of paintings, art, etc.) showing people, animals and objects as they really look:
a figurative artist / painter
compareABSTRACT
figuratively adverb:
She is, figuratively speaking, holding a gun to his head.
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of figurative come from?
This entry for figurative is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Does figurative appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — figurative appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
