| 单词 | figurative |
| 释义 | figurative (once / 1919 pages) 1adj 2adj When speech or writing is not literal, it is figurative, like when you say you have a ton of homework. You don't really have 2000 pounds of homework, do you? Also, when art depicts a figure from life it is figurative, like a figurative drawing of a dancer. The adjective figurative comes from the Old French word figuratif, which means “metaphorical.” Any figure of speech — a statement or phrase not intended to be understood literally — is figurative. You say your hands are frozen, or you are so hungry you could eat a horse. That's being figurative. In art, figure means "human or animal form," so a figurative drawing might show horses running across a field. WORD FAMILYfigurative: figuratively, nonfigurative+/disfiguration: disfigurations/disfigure: disfiguration, disfigured, disfigurement, disfigures, disfiguring/disfigurement: disfigurements/figuration: figurations/figure: disfigure, figuration, figurative, figured, figureed, figurer, figures, figuring, prefigure, subfigure/figurer: figurers/figuring: figurings/prefiguration: prefigurations/prefigure: prefiguration, prefigurative, prefigured, prefigures, prefiguring USAGE EXAMPLESTwo main classes of figurative language, Pope argued, were responsible: “the Magnifying” and “the Diminishing.” The New Yorker(Dec 31, 2016) “In Cuba, I did sculpture which was figurative.” The Guardian(Dec 31, 2016) She created a figurative art wall, a sea of faces on a white wall. Washington Post(Dec 15, 2016) 1 adj (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech 2figurative language Syn|Ant nonliteral analogical expressing, composed of, or based on an analogy extendedbeyond the literal or primary sense metaphoric, metaphoricalexpressing one thing in terms normally denoting another metonymic, metonymicalusing the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated poeticcharacterized by romantic imagery synecdochic, synecdochicalusing the name of a part for that of the whole or the whole for the part; or the special for the general or the general for the special; or the material for the thing made of it tropicalcharacterized by or of the nature of a trope or tropes; changed from its literal sense rhetoricalgiven to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought literal limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text exactmarked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact denotative, explicitin accordance with fact or the primary meaning of a term unrhetoricalnot rhetorical adj consisting of or forming human or animal figures "the figurative art of the humanistic tradition"- Herbert Read Syn figural representational (used especially of art) depicting objects, figures,or scenes as seen |
| 随便看 |
英语词典包含147318条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。