Figurative
adjective
Using or showing the use of language and images to create pictures in the mind to not describe reality directly.
The term 'heart of gold' is a figurative expression meaning a person is very kind.
Often appears as...
- figurative language
- figurative expression
adjective
Representing something else or a similarity by giving it a form; symbolic.
The cave in the story is a figurative journey into the unknown.
Often appears as...
- figurative interpretation
- figurative representation
Usage tips
Literary
adjective
Using or showing the use of language and images to create pictures in the mind to not describe reality directly.
The term 'heart of gold' is a figurative expression meaning a person is very kind.
Often appears as...
- figurative language
- figurative expression
adjective
Representing something else or a similarity by giving it a form; symbolic.
The cave in the story is a figurative journey into the unknown.
Often appears as...
- figurative interpretation
- figurative representation
Usage tips
Literary
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Not Literal
Understand that 'figurative' means the words go beyond their basic meanings to show something more.
Saying 'raining cats and dogs' is figurative, not actual pets falling.
Pro Tip 2/3Creative Expression
'Figurative' language often involves creativity, using imagination to convey ideas.
Poets use figurative speech to paint images in our minds.
Pro Tip 3/3Avoid Confusion
Make sure the context is right for figurative language to prevent misunderstandings.
In a science class, use literal language for clarity, not figurative.
Pro Tip 1/3Not Literal
Understand that 'figurative' means the words go beyond their basic meanings to show something more.
Saying 'raining cats and dogs' is figurative, not actual pets falling.
Pro Tip 2/3Creative Expression
'Figurative' language often involves creativity, using imagination to convey ideas.
Poets use figurative speech to paint images in our minds.
Pro Tip 3/3Avoid Confusion
Make sure the context is right for figurative language to prevent misunderstandings.
In a science class, use literal language for clarity, not figurative.
Pro Tip 1/3Not Literal
Understand that 'figurative' means the words go beyond their basic meanings to show something more.
Saying 'raining cats and dogs' is figurative, not actual pets falling.
Pro Tip 2/3Creative Expression
'Figurative' language often involves creativity, using imagination to convey ideas.
Poets use figurative speech to paint images in our minds.
Pro Tip 3/3Avoid Confusion
Make sure the context is right for figurative language to prevent misunderstandings.
In a science class, use literal language for clarity, not figurative.
Compare with
allegoricalemblematicfancifulimaginativemetaphoricalpoeticrepresentativerhetoricalsymbology
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Video examples
How to build a fictional...
I'm not sure anyone knows the answer to that question, yet fantastical, fictional worlds are created everyday in our minds, on computers, even on napkins at the restaurant down the street. The truth is your imagination and a willingness to, figuratively, live in your own world
Video examples
Kwame Anthony Appiah: Is...
and when we were on the bus going back and forth to the various parts of the, they prayed not just in a generic way but for the safety of the journey, and they meant it, and when they said to me that my mother, the bridegroom's, was with us, they didn't mean it figuratively.
Video examples
How loss helped one...
I make large-scale figurative paintings, which means I paint people like this. But I'm here tonight to tell you about something personal that changed my work and my perspective. It's something we all go through, and my hope is that my experience may be helpful to somebody.
Video examples
Robert A. Belle: The...
I was convinced that it was my lack of effort in exercise, and certainly not chocolate. Tracking my spending on chocolate, though, helped me realize that I was afraid of facing myself in the mirror, literally and figuratively,
Video examples
Plato’s Allegory of the...
What is reality, knowledge, the meaning of life? Big topics you might tackle figuratively explaining existence as a journey down a road or across an ocean, a climb, a war, a book, a thread, a game, a window of opportunity,
Video examples
Asking for help is a...
And as a child, you can't understand another child's curiosity, nor an adult's ignorance. It became very apparent to me that the real world was not built for someone of my size, both literally or figuratively.
Video examples
What if you could help...
that literally and figuratively brightened up public spaces. But they addressed a more important problem. Young people were being criminalized and pulled into the justice system for putting their art on walls.
Video examples
Designing the New Cosmos...
interesting visual elements and they're all introduced in an attempt to help the story get told there was the ship of the imagination in the original an early attempt to provide a literal and a figurative
Video examples
Building bridges and...
figuratively and literally so that night I go home really excited and Google search who builds pedestrian bridges in the developing world there are two hits the first seemed far too legitimate to
Video examples
Mysteries of vernacular:...
literally loaf maid, or, more figuratively, kneader of bread. As early as the ninth century, hlafdige was the name for a mistress of servants,
Video examples
How to build a fictional...
I'm not sure anyone knows the answer to that question, yet fantastical, fictional worlds are created everyday in our minds, on computers, even on napkins at the restaurant down the street. The truth is your imagination and a willingness to, figuratively, live in your own world
Video examples
Kwame Anthony Appiah: Is...
and when we were on the bus going back and forth to the various parts of the, they prayed not just in a generic way but for the safety of the journey, and they meant it, and when they said to me that my mother, the bridegroom's, was with us, they didn't mean it figuratively.
Video examples
How loss helped one...
I make large-scale figurative paintings, which means I paint people like this. But I'm here tonight to tell you about something personal that changed my work and my perspective. It's something we all go through, and my hope is that my experience may be helpful to somebody.
Video examples
Robert A. Belle: The...
I was convinced that it was my lack of effort in exercise, and certainly not chocolate. Tracking my spending on chocolate, though, helped me realize that I was afraid of facing myself in the mirror, literally and figuratively,
Video examples
Plato’s Allegory of the...
What is reality, knowledge, the meaning of life? Big topics you might tackle figuratively explaining existence as a journey down a road or across an ocean, a climb, a war, a book, a thread, a game, a window of opportunity,
Video examples
Asking for help is a...
And as a child, you can't understand another child's curiosity, nor an adult's ignorance. It became very apparent to me that the real world was not built for someone of my size, both literally or figuratively.
Video examples
What if you could help...
that literally and figuratively brightened up public spaces. But they addressed a more important problem. Young people were being criminalized and pulled into the justice system for putting their art on walls.
Video examples
Designing the New Cosmos...
interesting visual elements and they're all introduced in an attempt to help the story get told there was the ship of the imagination in the original an early attempt to provide a literal and a figurative
Video examples
Building bridges and...
figuratively and literally so that night I go home really excited and Google search who builds pedestrian bridges in the developing world there are two hits the first seemed far too legitimate to
Video examples
Mysteries of vernacular:...
literally loaf maid, or, more figuratively, kneader of bread. As early as the ninth century, hlafdige was the name for a mistress of servants,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Richard MacDonald
American Sculptor
China is important to the world in that they are a force and on the move. Exposing them to figurative art opens up a potential for artistic expression far greater than anyone would ever have dreamed possible until today. It is this very spirit of the struggle and determination to triumph that inspires creative expression.
Quote examples
Nicholas Kristof
American Journalist
I wouldn't want everybody to be an art or literature major, but the world would be poorer - figuratively, anyway - if we were all coding software or running companies. We also want musicians to awaken our souls, writers to lead us into fictional lands, and philosophers to help us exercise our minds and engage the world.
Quote examples
Gianluigi Buffon
Italian Athlete
I thought psychologists were people who rob, figuratively of course, money from the insecure. But they are not. They are people who are there to help you, and if you find a good psychologist, they will allow you to talk about everything and open up, without the slightest of fears, and that is no easy thing.
Quote examples
John Cooper Clarke
English Poet
Literally' - I'm not having it; people can't go around saying 'literally.' Otherwise, what's literal? There's not another word for literally: if it isn't figurative or metaphorical, what is it? It's literal: there's no substitute.
Quote examples
Barbara Mandrell
American Musician
What I do miss that I don't get anymore? You're going to think I'm crazy, but you want the truth, so here it is. The lights! I miss the spotlights. I don't mean it figuratively. I mean it literally. I love the feeling of lights.
Quote examples
Harry S Truman
American President
I have no desire to crow over anybody or to see anybody eating crow, figuratively or otherwise. We should all get together and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases.
Quote examples
Jesmyn Ward
American Novelist
I'm a failed poet. Reading poetry helps me to see the world differently, and I try to infuse my prose with figurative language, which goes against the trend in fiction.
Quote examples
Gene Tunney
American Athlete
In youth, we get plenty of exercise through games and running around, but as middle life approaches, we settle down, literally and figuratively.
Quote examples
Josie Maran
American Model
Luckily, my husband is my business partner as well as my life partner, so I never had to do the heavy lifting alone, literally or figuratively.
Quote examples
Leeza Gibbons
American Celebrity
Anybody who's serious about their passion in life gets doors slammed in their face, literally and figuratively.
Quote examples
Richard MacDonald
American Sculptor
China is important to the world in that they are a force and on the move. Exposing them to figurative art opens up a potential for artistic expression far greater than anyone would ever have dreamed possible until today. It is this very spirit of the struggle and determination to triumph that inspires creative expression.
Quote examples
Nicholas Kristof
American Journalist
I wouldn't want everybody to be an art or literature major, but the world would be poorer - figuratively, anyway - if we were all coding software or running companies. We also want musicians to awaken our souls, writers to lead us into fictional lands, and philosophers to help us exercise our minds and engage the world.
Quote examples
Gianluigi Buffon
Italian Athlete
I thought psychologists were people who rob, figuratively of course, money from the insecure. But they are not. They are people who are there to help you, and if you find a good psychologist, they will allow you to talk about everything and open up, without the slightest of fears, and that is no easy thing.
Quote examples
John Cooper Clarke
English Poet
Literally' - I'm not having it; people can't go around saying 'literally.' Otherwise, what's literal? There's not another word for literally: if it isn't figurative or metaphorical, what is it? It's literal: there's no substitute.
Quote examples
Barbara Mandrell
American Musician
What I do miss that I don't get anymore? You're going to think I'm crazy, but you want the truth, so here it is. The lights! I miss the spotlights. I don't mean it figuratively. I mean it literally. I love the feeling of lights.
Quote examples
Harry S Truman
American President
I have no desire to crow over anybody or to see anybody eating crow, figuratively or otherwise. We should all get together and make a country in which everybody can eat turkey whenever he pleases.
Quote examples
Jesmyn Ward
American Novelist
I'm a failed poet. Reading poetry helps me to see the world differently, and I try to infuse my prose with figurative language, which goes against the trend in fiction.
Quote examples
Gene Tunney
American Athlete
In youth, we get plenty of exercise through games and running around, but as middle life approaches, we settle down, literally and figuratively.
Quote examples
Josie Maran
American Model
Luckily, my husband is my business partner as well as my life partner, so I never had to do the heavy lifting alone, literally or figuratively.
Quote examples
Leeza Gibbons
American Celebrity
Anybody who's serious about their passion in life gets doors slammed in their face, literally and figuratively.
Example 1 of 10
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