figure

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA ^(key): /ˈfɪgjɚ/
• (UK) IPA ^(key): /ˈfɪgə/
• (Canada) IPA ^(key): /ˈfɪɡɚ/ or /ˈfɪɡjɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fig‧ure

Noun

Singular figure

Plural figures

1. (countable) Figures are numbers showing the value or amount of something.

   The sales figures from the spring were down from last year.

   According to the official figures, unemployment levels are about 6 per cent.

   You only have to look at the figures for fire deaths in hotels to see this is not a problem.

2. (countable) A figure is a person, often a well-known person.

   They have published articles about many leading figures including John Reed, J.A. Hobson, Tom Mann, and Daniel de Leon.

   The figure of Margaret Thatcher towers over the Falklands War.

3. (countable) A figure is a person, especially the person's shape.
   • Synonym: silhouette

   She did not see the figure standing in the shadows of the kitchen doorway.

   Across the river is the figure of Lenin on top of an armored car carved of stone.

   Her girlish figure had disappeared as she aged, sat more, and ate more.

   The most popular boy's toy ever is the G.I. Joe action figure.

   He looked down at the wet figures of the boy and dog.

4. (countable) A figure is a geometric shape.
5. (countable) A figure is a picture in a textbook or scientific journal. (Often written fig.)

• 
  four figures
• 
  some 2-dimensional figures
• 
  a 3-dimensional figure

Related words

• figural
• fig
• figure skate
• figure of speech

Verb

Plain form figure

Third-person singular figures

Past tense figured

Past participle figured

Present participle figuring

1. (intransitive) If $x$ figures in something that happens, $x$ is part of that happening.

   The weather figured prominently in their plans.

   The fact that he wouldn't be there didn't figure among her worries.

2. (intransitive) If you figure that something is true, you think that it is true.

   Few people figured that he would win.

3. (transitive & intransitive) If you figure something out, you think about it until you understand it.

   He figured out that she was speaking Italian.

Synonyms

• count
• think
• calculate

Related words

• figuring