figure
pronunciation
How to pronounce figure in British English:
UK [ˈfɪɡə(r)]
How to pronounce figure in American English:
US [ˈfɪɡjər]
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- Noun:
- a diagram or picture illustrating textual material
- alternative names for the body of a human being
- one of the elements that collectively form a system of numbers
- a model of a bodily form (especially of a person)
- a well-known or notable person
- a combination of points and lines and planes that form a visible palpable shape
- an amount of money expressed numerically
- the impression produced by a person
- the property possessed by a sum or total or indefinite quantity of units or individuals
- language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
- a unitary percept having structure and coherence that is the object of attention and that stands out against a ground
- a decorative or artistic work
- a predetermined set of movements in dancing or skating
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- Verb:
- judge to be probable
- be or play a part of or in
- imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind
- make a mathematical calculation or computation
- understand
Word Origin
- figure
- figure: [13] Figure comes via Old French from Latin figūra ‘form, shape, figure’, a derivative of the same base (*fig-) as produced fingere ‘make, shape’ (whence English effigy, faint, feign, and fiction). Many of the technical Latin uses of the word, including ‘geometric figure’, are direct translations of Greek skhéma, which also meant literally ‘form, shape’, but the sense ‘numerical symbol’ is a later development. Also from the base *fig- was derived Latin figmentum ‘something created or invented’, from which English gets figment [15].=> effigy, faint, feign, fiction, figment
- figure (v.)
- late 14c., "to represent" (in painting or sculpture), "make a likeness," also "to have a certain shape or appearance," from Old French figurer, from Latin figurare (see figure (n.)). Meaning "to shape into" is c. 1400; from mid-15c. as "to cover or adorn with figures." Meaning "to picture in the mind" is from c. 1600. Intransitive meaning "make an appearance, make a figure, show oneself" is from c. 1600. Meaning "work out a sum" (by means of arithmetical figures) is from 1833, American English; hence colloquial sense "to calculate upon, expect" (1837). Related: Figured; figuring.
- figure (n.)
- c. 1200, "numeral;" mid-13c., "visible appearance of a person;" late 14c., "visible and tangible form of anything," from Old French figure "shape, body; form of a word; figure of speech; symbol, allegory" (10c), from Latin figura "a shape, form, figure; quality, kind, style; figure of speech," in Late Latin "a sketch, drawing," from PIE *dheigh- "to form, build" (see dough). Philosophical and scientific senses are from use of Latin figura to translate Greek skhema. Meaning "lines forming a shape" is from mid-14c. From mid-14c. as "human body as represented by art;" late 15c. as "a body, the human form as a whole." The rhetorical use of figure, "peculiar use of words giving meaning different from usual," dates to late 14c.; hence figure of speech (by 1704). Figure-skating is from 1835. Figure eight as a shape was originally figure of eight (c. 1600). From late 14c. as "a cut or diagram inserted in text."
Example
- 1. The figure came in well below expectations .
- 2. He was a figure from another age .
- 3. Figure 6 depicts the relationship between the three components .
- 4. Wouldn 't a more realistic figure be cost per mile ?
- 5. Mr obama remains an inspiring figure .