effigiate

ef·fi·gi·ate
E1F4F4I1G2I1A1T1E1
UK/ɪˈfɪ.d͡ʒiː.eɪ̯t/Canada, US/ɪˈfɪ.d͡ʒi.eɪ̯t/Australia/ɪˈfɪ.d͡ʒiː.æɪ̯t/New Zealand/əˈfə.d͡ʒiː.æɪ̯t/

verb

To form as an effigy or make a representation of; to illustrate or depict.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

verbeffigiate (third-person singular simple present effigiates, present participle effigiating, simple past and past participle effigiated)

present singular third person effigiates · participle present effigiating · participle past effigiated · past effigiated

  1. transitiveTo form as an effigy or make a representation of; to illustrate or depict.

    In the same way CAUSALITY is effigiated, not merely by cogitating a WORKER, but by representing such an actuating thing as antecedes in time, and upon which somewhat else invariably follows.

    2024, Immanuel Kant, J. W. Semple, The Metaphysics of Ethics
    3 more examples

    Let me give you a hint and instance of it, in that one and remarkable example of Mary Magdalen, who though she were a notorious Malefactor, and a great and grievous Sinner, as the History Evangelical effigiates, and sets her forth unto us yet, hearing that Jesus sate down to meat in a Pharifee's house, she presumed and made bold to go into the house; and bringing an Alablaster-Box of Oyntment, she stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears;

    1661, Thomas Malpas, A Box of Spikenard newly broken, page 31

    These tables were first made by God himself, Exod. xxxi. 18, and given into the hands of Moses; and when they were broken he was commanded […] to effigiate them, or cut stones after their image, into their likeness, for the first were seen only by himself, Deut. x. 11; Exod. xxxiv. 1.

    1869, John Owen, The Works of John Owen, D.D. - Volume 11, page 80

    In other words, metaphysical wit discovers infinity in time, provides a transcendent vision of life and a means to truth, and effigiates, that is, portrays the secular in the sacred, the sacred in the secular.

    1995, Claude J. Summers, Ted-Larry Pebworth, The Wit of Seventeenth-century Poetry, page 23
  2. broadlytransitiveTo fashion; to adapt.

    He who means to win souls, must, as St. Paul did, effigiate and conform himself to those circumstances of living and discourse by which he may prevail.

    1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC
    2 more examples

    The Pattern we were effigiated to, was infinitely knowing, infinitely good; in both we are bound to imitate: bound to be the Reprefentatives of both, or we forfeit our Original, and our similitude, too.

    1670, Thomas Blount, The academy of eloquence, 1654, page 210

    A carnall mans designe, gives the stamp and impression to his Religion, and effigiates and mouldeth it; he will never make choice of such an one as shall be destructive to his ends.

    1971, The English Revolution, I: Fast Sermons to Parliament [1640-1653] : Reproductions in Facsimile, page 44
  3. transitiveTo embody; to manifest.

    Th'Effigies here th'engraver hath don it: But where's the man effigiates his wit?

    1805, James Granger, James Peller Malcolm, Letters Between the Rev. James Granger ... and Many of the Most Eminent Literary Men of His Time, page 370
    3 more examples

    all this notwithstanding, they that are in their tombes & graves shall heare the voice of the Son of man, & earth, earth, earth in Jeremy winnowed and boulted by death into the smallest dust, shall be effigiated and fhaped anew into living men;

    1636, Daniel Featley, Clavis Mystica, page 514

    He concludes by explaining the importance of having a body in order to understand its less knowable partner: "I know that in the state of my body, which is more discernible, than that of my soule, thou dost effigiate my Soule to me ” ( 119 ) .

    2008, Ramie Targoff, John Donne, Body and Soul, page 151

    In this context he states: "Nor are there only such several Spirits of Trees, Herbs, Grass, and of every Species of them, which by a Proper Plastical Veritue Created in and with them by God do severaly Effigiate their Proper Bodys, and the Organism thereof, but also Proper Subordinate Vegetative Spirits of Fishes, Fowls, and Beasts, and of every Species of them, which doth so Effigiate their Proper Bodys , and the Organism therof."

    2019, Domenico Bertoloni Meli, Mechanism: A Visual, Lexical, and Conceptual History

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Late Latineffigiātus
  2. Englisheffigiate

Learned borrowing from Late Latin effigiātus, past participle of effigiō (“to form”), from effigiēs. See effigy.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

effigiate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/effigiate

MLA

“effigiate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/effigiate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “effigiate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/effigiate.

Source: effigiate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.