- figure
- [[t]fɪ̱gə(r), AM -gjər[/t]]
♦figures, figuring, figured1) N-COUNT A figure is a particular amount expressed as a number, especially a statistic.
It would be very nice if we had a true figure of how many people in this country haven't got a job...
It will not be long before the inflation figure starts to fall...
New Government figures predict that one in two marriages will end in divorce.
2) N-COUNT A figure is any of the ten written symbols from 0 to 9 that are used to represent a number.Syn:3) N-PLURAL: adj/num N An amount or number that is in single figures is between zero and nine. An amount or number that is in double figures is between ten and ninety-nine. You can also say, for example, that an amount or number is in three figures when it is between one hundred and nine hundred and ninety-nine.Inflation, which has usually been in single figures, is running at more than 12%...
Crawley, with 14, was the only other player to reach double figures...
The thermometer nudged three figures yesterday in Rome.
4) N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n You refer to someone that you can see as a figure when you cannot see them clearly or when you are describing them.Alistair saw the dim figure of Rose in the chair...
She waited, standing on the bridge, until his figure vanished against the grey backdrop of the Palace...
A figure in a blue dress appeared in the doorway.
Syn:5) N-COUNT In art, a figure is a person in a drawing or a painting, or a statue of a person....a life-size bronze figure of a brooding, hooded woman.
Take pride in your health and your figure...
Janet was a natural blonde with a good figure.
7) N-COUNT: with supp Someone who is referred to as a figure of a particular kind is a person who is well-known and important in some way.The movement is supported by key figures in the three main political parties.
Syn:8) N-COUNT: with supp, usu n N, N of n If you say that someone is, for example, a mother figure or a hero figure, you mean that other people regard them as the type of person stated or suggested.Men often feel the need for a mother figure who is not in fact related to them...
Daniel Boone, the great hero figure of the frontier...
Local police chiefs should re-emerge as figures of authority and reassurance in their areas.
9) N-COUNT: also N num In books and magazines, the diagrams which help to show or explain information are referred to as figures.If you look at a world map (see Figure 1) you can identify the major wine-producing regions...
Figure 1.15 shows which provinces lost populations between 1910 and 1920.
Syn:10) N-COUNT: usu supp N In geometry, a figure is a shape, especially a regular shape. [TECHNICAL]Draw a pentagon, a regular five-sided figure.
11) VERB If you figure that something is the case, you think or guess that it is the case. [INFORMAL][V that] She figured that both she and Ned had learned a lot from the experience.
12) VERB If you say `That figures' or `It figures', you mean that the fact referred to is not surprising. [INFORMAL][that/it V] When I finished, he said, `Yeah. That figures'...
[that/it V] Work it out and you'll find it figures. [Also it V that]
13) VERB: no passive If a person or thing figures in something, they appear in or are included in it.14) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that someone cuts a particular figure, you mean that they appear to other people in the way described.Today she cuts a lonely figure.
15) PHRASE: figure inflects If you describe someone as a figure of fun, you mean that people think they are ridiculous.The man has become an unlikely figure of fun.
16) PHRASE: V and N inflect If you keep your figure, you stay thin. If you lose your figure, you become rather fat.You'll lose your girlish figure if you don't watch out.
17) PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n, usu with brd-neg When you put a figure on an amount, you say exactly how much it is.No one will put a figure on the final cost of this reconstruction.
Phrasal Verbs:
English dictionary. 2008.
