Word.ws English Dictionary

figure-head

figure-head is the alternative form of figurehead.

Meaning of figurehead

Noun

figurehead (plural figureheads)

  1. A carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship.
  2. (broadly, figuratively) Someone in a nominal position of leadership who has little to no actual power.
    • Evidently he did not mean to be a mere figurehead, but to carry on the old tradition of Wilsthorpe's; and that was considered to be a good thing in itself and an augury for future prosperity.1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 2, in Well Tackled!
  3. (figuratively, obsolete, slang) A person's face.
    • HATCHET. Bring up, I say, or I'll spoil your figurehead. [Lifting his cudgel]1829, Douglas Jerrold, Black-Eyed Susan; or, All in the Downs

See all 4 meanings of figurehead

Forms of figure-head

pluralfigure-heads

Questions about figure-head

What is figure-head the alternative form of?
Figure-head is the alternative form of figurehead.

Words near figure-head in the dictionary

  1. figure-eight hitch
  2. figure-eight hitches
  3. figure-eighted
  4. figure-eighting
  5. figure-eights
  6. figure-head
  7. figure-heads
  8. figure-hugging
  9. figure-of-4
  10. figure-of-eight
  11. figure-of-eights

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: figure-head (page history and authors); figurehead (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “figure-head.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/figure-head. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.