FIGURATIVE

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech

Example:

figurative language

Synonyms:

figurative; nonliteral

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

analogical (expressing, composed of, or based on an analogy)

extended (beyond the literal or primary sense)

metaphoric; metaphorical (expressing one thing in terms normally denoting another)

metonymic; metonymical (using the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated)

poetic (characterized by romantic imagery)

synecdochic; synecdochical (using 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)

tropical (characterized by or of the nature of a trope or tropes; changed from its literal sense)

Also:

rhetorical (given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought)

Antonym:

literal (limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Consisting of or forming human or animal figures

Example:

the figurative art of the humanistic tradition

Synonyms:

figural; figurative