mindmap root((FIG)) figurative 1、 Representing form or figure in art.
2、 Saying one thing in terms normally meaning or describing another thing.
🌱When the poet says he's been living in the desert, it's a figurative reference to his emotional life. 🌳Words and phrases can have both literal and figurative meanings, and we all use words with both kinds of meanings every day of our lives. We can literally close the door to a room, or we can figuratively close the door to further negotiations—that is, refuse to take part in them. Figurative language includes figures of speech, such as similes （"she's been like a sister to me"） and metaphors （"a storm of protest"）. And sometimes it's hard to tell whether a phrase is literal or figurative: If I say I "picked up" a little Spanish in Mexico, is that literal or figurative? You've probably noticed that lots of the definitions in this book show both a literal meaning （often something physical） and a figurative meaning （often nonphysical）. configuration An arrangement of parts or elements; shape, design.
🌱We've changed the configuration of the office so that employees will have more privacy at their desks. 🌳The term is very common in computer science and mathematics, and in scientific and technological fields in general. Thus, for example, two scientists won a 1962 Nobel Prize for their description of the configuration of the DNA molecule. Since then, researchers have studied what different configurations within the DNA strands mean and what they control, and genetic engineers have tried to configure or reconfigureDNA in new ways to prevent or treat diseases. effigy An image of a person, especially a crude representation of a hated person.
🌱The night before the big game, an effigy of the rival coach was burned on a huge bonfire. 🌳It was the practice of the ancient Egyptians to bury an effigy of a dead person along with that person's body. The idea was that if anything happened to the body in the afterlife, the effigy could be used as a spare. Effigy now usually refers to crude stuffed figures of the kind that get abused by angry protestors and unruly college students. But the small dolls that witches have used to bring pain and death on their victims can be called effigies as well. Actually, those witches and college kids seem to use their effigies for pretty much the same thing. figment Something made up or imagined.
🌱His preference for Cindy is a figment of your imagination; believe me, he barely knows she exists. 🌳A figment is something formed from imaginary elements. Daydreams are figments; nightmares are figments that can seem very real. Most figments are everyday fears and hopes about small things that turn out to be imaginary. But when the radio play "The War of the Worlds" aired in 1938, it caused a panic among thousands of people who didn't realize the Martian invasion was just a figment of the author's imagination.