figurative

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English figuratif,^[2] borrowed from Middle French figuratif (“symbolic, metaphorical”),^[3][4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Late Latin figūrātīvus (“symbolical, allegorical”),^[3][5][7][8] formed from figūrātus, the past participle of figūrō (“to form, shape”), and -īvus.^[3][4][5][6] The verb is from figūra (“a shape, form, figure”),^[4][7] from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to form, build”).^[4] The French word is recorded from the late 12th century in Old French, meaning symbolic or metaphorical,^[3] and the Latin from the 5th century.^[3] The OED compares Spanish figurativo, Portuguese figurativo and Italian figurativo.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of language, not literal, metaphorical: about 1395, in the later version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[3] Etymonline gives "emblematical" as the first sense, from the late 14th century,^[4] and the OED has "symbolic, emblematic" from before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Both the symbolic sense and the sense "metaphorical", used of speech and language, are from the late 14th century.^[3][4] From 1589, in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie, a speech or style full of rhetorical figures was figurative.^[3] In arithmetic the word meant using figures to represent numbers (1592), and later named the figurative numbers that can be shown as dots in a regular shape (1678).^[3] The sense "relating to the representation of form in painting or sculpture" dates from 1607,^[3] and in modern art criticism, from 1955, figurative art is art that depicts recognizable figures or objects, as opposed to abstract art.^[3][9] Johnson (1755) gave "representing something else; typical" as the first sense.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1395 – of language, metaphorical, not literal.^[3][4]
• before 1398 – symbolic, emblematic.^[3]
• 1589 – full of rhetorical figures.^[3]
• 1592 – in arithmetic, using figures for numbers.^[3]
• 1607 – of or relating to pictorial or sculptural representation.^[3]
• 1704 – in music, ornamented with figures.^[3]
• 1955 – of art, depicting recognizable figures, not abstract.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Using words in a sense other than the literal one; metaphorical: He was drowning in paperwork, in the figurative sense.^[11][9][5]
2. Full of figures of speech; ornate.^[11][9][5]
3. Representing something by a figure or likeness; symbolic or emblematic.^[11][9][5]
4. Of painting or sculpture, representing people, animals or objects as they look, rather than abstract forms.^[11][9][3]

Word family

• figuratively
• figurativeness
• nonfigurative
• semifigurative
• unfigurative

Related words

• figure
• figurate
• figment
• feign
• fiction

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt