What does "figure" mean?
A drawing or diagram conveying information.
Figure
/ˈfɪɡə/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A drawing or diagram conveying information.
- Grammar: figure is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: digit, a glyph, a number, accept.
- Useful contrasts: confuse, disbelieve, doubt.
- Usage evidence: Strange to say, the figure went out of sight suddenly.
How to use "figure"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "figure" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "figure" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "figure" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "figure" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "figure" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "digit" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "figure", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A drawing or diagram conveying information.
"For example, while Figure 1 shows information for 516 visitor groups, Figure 3 presents data for 1,625 individuals. A note above each graph or table specifies the information illustrated. ... For example, although Joshua Tree NP visitors returned 525 questionnaires, Figure 1 shows data for only 516 respondents."
- 2 a predetermined set of movements in dancing or skating wordnet
- 3 The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body.
"a figure in bronze; a figure cut in marble"
- 4 a decorative or artistic work wordnet
- 5 A person or thing representing a certain consciousness.
"Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures."
Show 24 more definitions
- 6 a model of a bodily form (especially of a person) wordnet
- 7 The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person.
"He cut a sorry figure standing there in the rain."
- 8 the impression produced by a person wordnet
- 9 Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendour; show. obsolete
"that he may live in figure and indulgence"
- 10 the property possessed by a sum or total or indefinite quantity of units or individuals wordnet
- 11 A human figure, which dress or corset must fit to; the shape of a human body.
"The origin of the corset is lost in remote antiquity. The figures of the early Egyptian women show clearly an artificial shape of the waist produced by some style of corset."
- 12 alternative names for the body of a human being wordnet
- 13 A numeral.
- 14 a unitary percept having structure and coherence that is the object of attention and that stands out against a ground wordnet
- 15 A number, an amount.
"(i) in the 1966 edition of The Destruction of Dresden Irving contended that 135,000 were estimated authoritatively to have been killed and further contended that the documentation suggested a figure between 100,00 and 250,000;"
- 16 a diagram or picture illustrating textual material wordnet
- 17 A shape.
"a geometrical figure, a plane figure, a solid figure"
- 18 language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense wordnet
- 19 A visible pattern as in wood or cloth.
"The muslin was of a pretty figure."
- 20 a well-known or notable person wordnet
- 21 Any complex dance moveᵂ.
"Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness,[…]. It was with a palpable relief that he heard the first warning notes of the figure."
- 22 an amount of money expressed numerically wordnet
- 23 A figure of speech.
"to represent the imagination under the figure of a wing"
- 24 one of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration wordnet
- 25 The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.
- 26 a combination of points and lines and planes that form a visible palpable shape wordnet
- 27 A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses.
"its quality, like those of all the rest, is determined by its position in the house of the astrological figure"
- 28 Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression.
"Here, Beethoven limits the syncopations and modifications of rhythm which are so prominent in the first and third movements, and employs a rapid, busy, and most melodious figure in the Violins, which is irresistible in its gay and brilliant effect[…]"
- 29 A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a motif; a florid embellishment.
Verb
- 1 To calculate, to solve a mathematical problem. US
- 2 understand wordnet
- 3 To come to understand. US
"I can’t figure if he’s telling the truth or lying."
- 4 make a mathematical calculation or computation wordnet
- 5 To think, to assume, to suppose, to reckon.
"1. Gent. Thou art alwayes figuring diseases in me; but thou art full of error, I am sound."
Show 13 more definitions
- 6 judge to be probable wordnet
- 7 To be reasonable or predictable. US, intransitive
"It figures that somebody like him would be upset about the situation."
- 8 imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind wordnet
- 9 To enter into; to be a part of. intransitive
"It is the transcontinental trains which figure most prominently in railway advertising. Both railways run two trains in each direction."
- 10 be or play a part of or in wordnet
- 11 To represent in a picture or drawing. transitive
"Although now to be met with in botanic gardens everywhere, there is a certain degree of interest attaching to the figure of it in B.M. 3,992 (1843), although that was by no means the first figure published, for Lambert, Sprengel, and Sir W. Hooker had previously figured it."
- 12 To represent by a figure, as to form or mould; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape. obsolete
"If love, alas! be pain; the pain I bear, / No thought can figure, and no tongue declare."
- 13 To embellish with design; to adorn with figures.
"The vaulty top of heaven / Figured quite o'er with burning meteors."
- 14 To indicate by numerals. obsolete
"1698 , John Dryden, Epitaph of Mary Frampton As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen."
- 15 To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.
"whose white vestments figure innocence"
- 16 To prefigure; to foreshow. obsolete
"His loftie browes in foldes, do figure death, And in their ſmoothneſſe, amitie and life:"
- 17 To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords.
- 18 To embellish.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Strange to say, the figure went out of sight suddenly."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "figure"?
Common synonyms include: digit, a glyph, a number, accept, acclaim, acknowledge.
How do you use "figure" in a sentence?
Strange to say, the figure went out of sight suddenly.
How do you pronounce "figure"?
Pronounced /ˈfɪɡə/.
Etymology
From Middle English figure, borrowed from Old French figure, from Latin figūra (“form, shape, form of a word, a figure of speech, Late Latin a sketch, drawing”), from fingō (“to form, shape, mold, fashion”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold, shape, form, knead”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τεῖχος (teîkhos), Sanskrit देग्धि (dégdhi), Old English dāg (“dough”). More at dough. Doublet of figura.