From Middle French figuratif.

• IPA: /ˈfɪɡəɹətɪv/

figurative

1. Of use as a metaphor, simile, metonym or other figure of speech, as opposed to literal; using figures; as when saying that someone who eats more than they should is a pig or like a pig.
2. Metaphorically so called.
3. With many figures of speech.
4. Emblematic, symbolic; representative, exemplative
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC ↗, (please specify the page):

     This, they will say, was figurative, and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity.

5. (art) Representing forms recognisable in life and clearly derived from real object sources, in contrast to abstract art.
   • 1875-1886, John Addington Symonds, Renaissance in Italy

     They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form.

• literal

• figure

• French: figuratif, figuré
• German: bildlich, figürlich, metaphorisch, symbolisch, übertragen, uneigentlich, verblümt
• Italian: figurativo
• Portuguese: figurativo
• Russian: перено́сный
• Spanish: figurativo, figurado, traslaticio

• German: im übertragenen Sinne

• German: bilderreich

• German: sinnbildlich, symbolisch