figural

From Old French figural, from late Latin figūrālis, from figūra (“figure”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɡ(j)ʊɹəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɡjəɹəl/
• Hyphenation: fig‧ur‧al

figural (comparative more figural, superlative most figural)

1. Representing by means of a figure; emblematic.
   • 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 185:

     The counterparts, in the Christian era, to the figural anticipation of Christ in the Old Testament were the deliverer monarchs and leaders of later times […]

2. Figurative, not literal.
3. (mathematics, obsolete) Of numbers, describing a geometrical figure.
4. (obsolete) Pertaining to a figure, shape.
5. (rare) Pertaining to (human) figures.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, pages 262–3:

     Some of the Umayyads found themselves charmed by the cultures which they had conquered, so that archaeologists in Palestine and Syria have revealed an astonishing flourishing of Christian-style figural art under their rule.

6. (music) Figurate.

figural m (oblique and nominative feminine singular figurale)

1. symbolic

• English: figural
• French: figural