Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use figuratively in a sentence

20 example sentences · adverb

Figuratively means in a figurative manner. Example: “Figuratively, the cat was out of the bag.”

Examples of figuratively by meaning

adverbUsed to indicate that what follows is to be taken as a figure of speech, not literally.

  • Figuratively, the cat was out of the bag.
  • Time can be consumed figuratively like food.

More sentences with figuratively

  • (figuratively, by extension) Of an order or cause of events, misunderstood or misinterpreted.From the entry back to front
  • (figuratively) We went over the figures together.From the entry over
  • (figuratively) A strange feeling came over me.From the entry over
  • (figuratively, by extension) Of a perspective, reversed or inverted.From the entry back to front
  • Baartman’s seminaked display left little to the imagination and reinforced England’s obsession with bottoms, both literally and figuratively.2007 January 14, Caroline Elkins, “A Life Exposed”, in New York Times. From the entry seminaked
  • The suaku (literally "mountain tortoise" and figuratively "country bumpkin") sports a beer belly, fake brand-name apparel and oil-slick hair.1986, “New Books”, in Asiaweek, volume 12, page 60. From the entry suaku
  • Both literally and figuratively, the city has cleaned up without sacrificing the edge that inspired its locally embraced nickname of “Grit City.”2024 June 23, Corinne Whiting, “The dazzling sides of ‘Grit City’”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2024. From the entry nickname
  • The specific outcome of that 'story-telling' largely derives from how managers 'figure' their world – how they trope or 'figuratively turn' meanings.2015, Alun Munslow, “Managing the Past”, in Patricia Genoe McLaren, Albert J. Mills, Terrance G. Weatherbee, editors, The Routledge…. From the entry trope
  • This would correct some of the mistailored clothes that are imposed to try to clothe figuratively the needs of the islands .1989, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Federal Policies Regarding the U.S. Insular Areas, page 213. From the entry mistailored
  • The black witches are the most interesting since they are figuratively more colorful, with a definite personality, ill disposed as they are.1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 261. From the entry black witch
  • Tarkington’s Miss Austenish eye, which, figuratively speaking, sees in the occasion of a bad egg for breakfast the inception of a divorce.1918, Robert Cortes Holliday, chapter VII, in Booth Tarkington, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, page 161. From the entry Miss Austenish
  • Femonationalist discourse is increasingly utilized by both Hindu and Buddhist nationalist representatives to figuratively rescue women from what they deem are the oppressive structures of Islam.2021 September, Andrew Malji, “Gendered Islamophobia: The nature of Hindu and Buddhist nationalism in India and Sri Lanka”, in Studies in…. From the entry femonationalist
  • Her taste for evil is in her DNA, and her twists of the screw (literally and figuratively) tighten her resolve to control her destiny, no matter the consequence.2017 August 2, George Prentice, “To Die For: In Lady Macbeth, revenge (and just about everything else) is served cold”, in Boise Weekly…. From the entry equicide
  • Interpreters err either when they allegorize discourse that is intended to be taken literally or when they "literalize" discourse that is intended to be taken figuratively.2014 August 20, Kevin Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in this Text?. From the entry literalistic
  • With its hinged 'buffe' (visor) lowered, the head and neck was completely enclosed; the excellent protection it afforded allows Cleopatra to describe Antony figuratively as 'burgonet of men' (1.5.24).2004, Charles Edelman, Shakespeare's Military Language: A Dictionary, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 65. From the entry buffe
  • Indeed, your exit interview is probably not the time or place to vent about how unhappy you were or about much your boss stank (either literally or figuratively).2001 June 17, “Return Engagements Can Make for Stronger Bonds”, in Businessweek, retrieved 28 May 2014. From the entry exit interview
  • Nostromo's fate demonstrates that even possession of what has been figuratively misendowed with essential reality does not mitigate that desire responsible for the genesis of the fetishistic process itself.1982, David Simpson, Fetishism and Imagination: Dickens, Melville, Conrad, page 96. From the entry misendow
  • The mountain could be interpreted literally as Zaozernaia Hill near Lake Khasan, where a military confrontation had taken place, or figuratively, indicated the triumph of the Soviet state over Japan.2008, Yulia Mikhailova, “Japan’s Place in Russian and Soviet National Identity: From Port Arthur to Khalkhin-gol”, in Yulia Mikhailova, M.…. From the entry Zaozernaia Hill

Meaning of figuratively

  1. adverb In a figurative manner.
  2. adverb Used to indicate that what follows is to be taken as a figure of speech, not literally.

Full definition of figuratively

Questions about figuratively in a sentence

How do you use figuratively in a sentence?
Figuratively is used as an adverb. For example: “Figuratively, the cat was out of the bag.”
What is a short sentence with figuratively?
“(figuratively) A strange feeling came over me.”
What does figuratively mean?
Figuratively means in a figurative manner.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: figuratively (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use figuratively in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/figuratively. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.