figural

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English

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Etymology

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From Old French figural, from late Latin figūrālis, from figūra (figure).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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figural (comparative more figural, superlative most figural)

  1. Representing by means of a figure; emblematic.
    • 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 185:
      The counterparts, in the Christian era, to the figural anticipation of Christ in the Old Testament were the deliverer monarchs and leaders of later times []
  2. Figurative, not literal.
  3. (mathematics, obsolete) Of numbers, describing a geometrical figure.
  4. (obsolete) Pertaining to a figure, shape.
  5. (rare) Pertaining to (human) figures.
    • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, pages 262–3:
      Some of the Umayyads found themselves charmed by the cultures which they had conquered, so that archaeologists in Palestine and Syria have revealed an astonishing flourishing of Christian-style figural art under their rule.
  6. (music) Figurate.

Old French

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Adjective

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figural m (oblique and nominative feminine singular figurale)

  1. symbolic

Declension

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Descendants

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  • English: figural
  • French: figural