Word.ws English Dictionary

figurehead

/ˈfɪɡjəɹˌhɛd/

figurehead noun: a carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship.

figurehead: a carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship
Image: Remi Jouan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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!
    • Instead she played, largely impeccably, the part of a modern constitutional monarch, a symbolic figurehead with a right to be consulted and to advise and warn political leaders privately and to show herself publicly as a focus of national life, celebration and commemoration.2022 September 8, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian
  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

Verb

figurehead (third-person singular simple present figureheads, present participle figureheading, simple past and past participle figureheaded)

  1. (also, idiomatic, intransitive, transitive) To lead (something) nominally and with little to no actual power.

figurehead meaning in Urdu, Kannada, Tagalog and Malay

figurehead in Urdu

بت نما, کٹھ پتلی, نمائشی

figurehead in Kannada

ನಾಮಮಾತ್ರದ ನಾಯಕ, ಹೆಸರಿಗೆಮಾತ್ರ ಮುಂದಾಳು, ಕ್ರಿಯಾಶೀಲನಲ್ಲದವನು, ಪೂರ್ಣರೂಪದ ಆಕೃತಿ

figurehead in Tagalog

carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship
roda

figurehead in Malay

carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship
angkuk

Forms of figurehead

Noun
pluralfigureheads
alternative formfigure-head
Verb
third-person singular presentfigureheads
present participlefigureheading
past participlefigureheaded
pastfigureheaded

Plural of figurehead: figureheads

Origin of figurehead

From figure + head.

Words formed from figurehead

Questions about figurehead

What does figurehead mean?
Figurehead means a carved figure on the prow of a sailing ship.
What is figurehead in Urdu?
Figurehead in Urdu is بت نما, کٹھ پتلی, نمائشی. See Figurehead meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is figurehead?
Figurehead can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce figurehead?
Figurehead is pronounced /ˈfɪɡjəɹˌhɛd/.
What is the plural of figurehead?
The plural of figurehead is figureheads.

Words near figurehead in the dictionary

  1. figured bass
  2. figured basses
  3. figured on
  4. figured out
  5. figured up
  6. figurehead
  7. figureheaded
  8. figureheading
  9. figureheadless
  10. figureheads
  11. figureheadship

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: figurehead (page history and authors); figurehead (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); figurehead (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-figurehead.ogg, en-au-figurehead.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-figurehead.wav.

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