figurativelyadv.
/ˈfɪɡjʊərətɪvli/ In a figurative manner.
1. In or by means of a figure or emblem.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > representation > physical representation of abstraction > symbolizing > [adverb]
figuratively1393
symbolically1603
emblematically1607
hieroglyphicallya1640
symbolicly1669
figuratelya1677
imagerially1879
iconically1946
1393 W. Langland Piers Plowman C. xvii. 294 And þow fynde hym bote figuratifliche a ferly me þynkeþ.
c1430 Speculum (1888) 33 In Gedeones flece was this shewed figuratively.
1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. oo.iii There be thre partes of penaunce whiche this holy prophete sheweth derkely and fyguratyuely by the symylytude of thre dyuers byrdes.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iii. vii. 121 The sense is still the same; for therein are figuratively intended Vzziah and Ezechias. View more context for this quotation
1780 Bp. G. Horne Disc. (1794) III. xvii. 379 Figuratively and sacramentally presented in the temple on earth.
2. By or as a figure of speech; metaphorically.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > [adverb]
figurallyc1380
similitudinary1581
figuratively1651
schematologetically1652
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > figures of meaning > [adverb] > metaphorically or figuratively
figurately?1531
metaphorally1548
tropically1556
metaphorically1571
analogically1610
allusively1615
figuratively1651
tropologetically1652
tralatitiously1657
tropologically1678
ideologically1861
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxv. 220 Figuratively, those men also are called Holy.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. vii. ii. 13 To express myself less figuratively, he determined to go to Sea. View more context for this quotation
1831 T. Russell Wks. Eng. Reformation III. 151 He dare not understand this thing as figuratively spoken.
1867 R. Broughton Not Wisely, but too Well II. 282 It is very, very difficult figuratively to get inside another person.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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adv.1393