figure

English Online Dictionary. What means figure‎? What does figure mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English figure, borrowed from Old French figure, from Latin figūra (“form, shape, form of a word, a figure of speech, Late Latin a sketch, drawing”), from fingō (“to form, shape, mold, fashion”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold, shape, form, knead”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τεῖχος (teîkhos), Sanskrit देग्धि (degdhi), Old English dāg (“dough”). More at dough. Doublet of figura.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɡə/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɡjɚ/, /ˈfɪɡɚ/
  • (Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɡɪu̯ɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɪɡə(ɹ), -ɪɡjə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: fig‧ure

Noun

figure (plural figures)

1. A drawing or diagram conveying information.
2. The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body.

   a figure in bronze; a figure cut in marble
3. A person or thing representing a certain consciousness.
4. The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person.

   He cut a sorry figure standing there in the rain.
5. (obsolete) Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendour; show.
6. A human figure, which dress or corset must fit to; the shape of a human body.
7. A numeral.
8. A number, an amount.
9. A shape.

   a geometrical figure, a plane figure, a solid figure
10. A visible pattern as in wood or cloth.

    The muslin was of a pretty figure.

11. Any complex dance move^W.
12. A figure of speech.
13. (logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.
14. (astrology) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses.
15. (music) Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression.
16. (music) A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a motif; a florid embellishment.

Derived terms

Related terms

• figurine
• figurative
• figuratively

Descendants

• → Japanese: フィギュア (figyua)

Translations

Verb

figure (third-person singular simple present figures, present participle figuring, simple past and past participle figured)

1. (chiefly US) To calculate, to solve a mathematical problem.
2. (chiefly US) To come to understand.

3. To think, to assume, to suppose, to reckon.
4. (chiefly US, intransitive) To be reasonable or predictable.

5. (intransitive) To enter into; to be a part of.
6. (transitive) To represent in a picture or drawing.
7. (obsolete) To represent by a figure, as to form or mould; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape.
8. To embellish with design; to adorn with figures.
9. (obsolete) To indicate by numerals.
   • 1698 , John Dryden, Epitaph of Mary Frampton

     As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen.

10. To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.
11. (obsolete) To prefigure; to foreshow.
12. (music) To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords.
13. (music) To embellish.

Derived terms

• go figure
• prefigure
• figure on
• figure out (US)

Translations

Further reading

• “figure”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “figure”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin figūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi.ɡyʁ/

Noun

figure f (plural figures)

1. face
2. figure

Synonyms

• visage

Derived terms

Further reading

• “figure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiˈɡu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure
• Hyphenation: fi‧gù‧re

Noun

figure f

1. plural of figura

Middle English

Alternative forms

• fygure, fegure, fugure, vigure

Etymology

From Old French figure, from Latin figūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfiɡiu̯r(ə)/

Noun

figure (plural figures)

1. shape, form, appearance

Descendants

• English: figure
• Yola: vigere

References

• “figūre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Portuguese

Verb

figure

1. inflection of figurar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

figure

1. inflection of figurar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative