Word.ws English Dictionary

go figure

US/ɡoʊ ˈfɪɡ(j)ɚ/

go figure phrase: expresses perplexity, puzzlement, or surprise (as if telling somebody to try to make sense of the situation).

Phrase

go figure

  1. Expresses perplexity, puzzlement, or surprise (as if telling somebody to try to make sense of the situation).
    • The car wouldn't start yesterday no matter what I did, but today it works just fine. Go figure.
    • It’s hard for some of us to look at a vicious flogger or a set of restraints used to hang someone upside-down and think of them as toys but kinky people do. Go figure.2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “Toys for kinky girls and boys—It’s not just whips and chains anymore.” (chapter 3), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 52

Forms of go figure

alternative formgo fig

Origin of go figure

Calque of Yiddish גיי װייס (gey veys).

Questions about go figure

What does go figure mean?
Go figure means expresses perplexity, puzzlement, or surprise (as if telling somebody to try to make sense of the situation).
What part of speech is go figure?
Go figure is a phrase.
How do you pronounce go figure?
Go figure is pronounced /ɡoʊ ˈfɪɡ(j)ɚ/ (US).

Words near go figure in the dictionary

  1. go faster stripes
  2. go fasts
  3. go fetal
  4. go fever
  5. go fig
  6. go figure
  7. go fish
  8. go five-hole
  9. go fly a kite
  10. go for
  11. go for a burton

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: go figure (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-au-go figure.ogg.

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