figurative

Adjective

figurative (comparative more figurative, superlative most figurative)

1. Of use as a metaphor, simile, metonym or other figure of speech, as opposed to literal; using figures.
   • Into an error of this kind they have fallen, who have claimed for the proverb, and made it one of its necessary conditions, that it should be a figurative expression. A moment’s consideration will be sufficient to disprove this. How many proverbs, such as Haste makes waste;—Honesty is the best...1861, Richard Chenevix Trench, chapter 1, in Proverbs and Their Lessons, Fifth edition, page 18
   • The lovers she seems to pursue with her figurative language in fact retreat under the barrage of similes, metaphors and fables.2005 May 1, “The Sea of Love”, in New York Times

   Synonyms:

   metaphorical, symbolic, tropic, allegorical

2. Metaphorically so called.
3. With many figures of speech.
4. Emblematic, symbolic; representative, exemplative.
   • 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.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
5. Representing forms recognisable in life and clearly derived from real object sources, in contrast to abstract art.
   • They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form.1875-1886, John Addington Symonds, Renaissance in Italy