Meanings
comparative more figural · superlative most figural
- Representing by means of a figure; emblematic.
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 […]
2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 185 - Figurative, not literal.
- obsoletemathematicsOf numbers, describing a geometrical figure.
- rarePertaining to (human) figures.
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.
2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, pages 262–3 - entertainmentFigurate.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveconsisting of or forming human or animal figures
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinfigūrālis
- Old Frenchfigural
- Englishfigural
From Old French figural, from late Latin figūrālis, from figūra (“figure”).
More words from Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
figural. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/figural
“figural.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/figural. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “figural,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/figural.
Source: figural on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.