figurative language

[ fig-yer-uh-tiv lang-gwij ]

noun
  1. language that contains or uses figures of speech, especially metaphors.

Origin of figurative language

1
First recorded in 1685–95

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use figurative language in a sentence

  • To use your figurative language, when this wormeaten monarchy is broken, what will come out of the ruins?

    Balsamo, The Magician | Alexander Dumas
  • figurative language employs words with meanings not strictly literal, but varying from their ordinary definitions.

    English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
  • As the ranchers put it, in the figurative language of their calling, “the hull blame state was burnt to a cinder.”

  • "They will yet find the Huron a singing-bird," said Duncan, endeavoring to adopt the figurative language of the natives.

    The Last of the Mohicans | James Fenimore Cooper
  • Why should one art be contemptuous of the figurative language of another?

    Soliloquies in England | George Santayana