How to Use figurative in a Sentence

figurative

adjective
  • While not figurative, many of these pieces bring to mind organs and veins.
    — Jane Yong Kim, The Atlantic, 3 Sep. 2017
  • Pegues is more concerned with his team’s lack of figurative fight.
    — Brett Dawson, The Courier-Journal, 2 Mar. 2022
  • That got a figurative shot in the arm this week with some federal help.
    — Ike Morgan | [email protected], al, 11 Dec. 2020
  • All his rivals saw most of the race was his figurative vapor trail.
    — Nathaniel Herz, Alaska Dispatch News, 5 July 2017
  • So, in a figurative sense, the aquarium is killing two birds with one stone.
    — Christine Condon, baltimoresun.com, 22 Feb. 2022
  • Didn’t kill her in a literal sense, didn’t kill her in a figurative sense.
    — Lili Anolik, Vulture, 12 Nov. 2024
  • Since Bevins is divorced, that knot is more than just figurative.
    — Bob Sylva, sacbee, 25 Apr. 2018
  • The creator of the art is detached from it the moment the figurative pen lid clicks shut.
    — Howard Murphy, Rolling Stone, 20 Oct. 2023
  • But not knowing my place has come at a cost, both in literal and figurative terms.
    — Time, 1 Aug. 2023
  • In his first year on the job, the figurative script often ended up in tatters.
    — Nathan Ruiz, baltimoresun.com, 16 Aug. 2020
  • At a time when the world seems topsy-turvy, the moon is a literal and figurative rock.
    — Nicole Clausing, Sunset Magazine, 24 Sep. 2020
  • But after four years cooped up in a monastery, Mary runs away and heads straight for (figurative) sin city.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2023
  • But now the iconic gag (both literal and figurative) is on its last breath.
    — Vulture, 7 Nov. 2023
  • Those are, based on a report from the zoo, both figurative and literal steps.
    — Martin Weil, Washington Post, 2 July 2018
  • The first step involves looking in the mirror, in the figurative sense.
    — Andrew Weinberg, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2021
  • The figurative scales of justice are totally out of whack now.
    — Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Sentinel, 26 June 2026
  • The word took on a more figurative sense in the 19th century.
    — Suzannah Showler, WIRED, 3 Oct. 2023
  • And between him and the finish line were all kinds of bumps, both figurative and literal.
    — Julie Jag, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Jan. 2022
  • Call it a figurative arm-twisting.
    — Eric Stephens, New York Times, 15 May 2026
  • Then there is zeugma, when a verb takes two objects, one literal and one figurative.
    — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 10 June 2026
  • The Dodgers were into the Padres bullpen in a figurative sense a short while later.
    — Kevin Acee, The Mercury News, 10 Oct. 2024
  • Parked along the beach, there’s a moment to consider how the figurative tide is changing.
    — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 24 Jan. 2026
  • The venture, though, which was financed through a loan, came at a steep cost, in literal and figurative terms.
    — Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Sep. 2023
  • Food can cross borders both literal and figurative, even when people cannot.
    — Ashley Rose Young, Bon Appetit Magazine, 18 June 2026
  • The figurative sense in which the Navy is at sea is more important and more dangerous.
    — Seth Cropsey, WSJ, 27 Apr. 2021
  • Meanwhile, the rest of the country was in a figurative pressure-cooker.
    — Christopher Elliott, USA TODAY, 18 Aug. 2019
  • If not literal, then at least figurative.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 12 Sep. 2025
  • With the book, Canales flung open a door and let people peer into the figurative skeletons in his closet.
    — Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 30 Jan. 2024
  • Fields is in a figurative room where his only peer is Lawrence, whom the Tigers lost for two weeks because of the virus.
    — Stephen Means, cleveland, 12 Nov. 2020
  • The artist was commissioned to create a figurative work in honor of the Queen’s reign.
    — Elise Taylor, Vogue, 1 Oct. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'figurative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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