What does figurable mean?
Figurable is an uncommon formal adjective meaning capable of being figured, pictured, or mentally represented — that is, something the mind can grasp in a definite shape or form. It derives from the Latin figura, meaning shape or form, the same root that gives us figure, figurative, and configure. Historically it also served in mathematical writing to describe quantities or relationships that could be expressed by a diagram or drawn figure, though this sense has largely faded. Today the word appears chiefly in philosophical, literary, and academic prose, where writers use it to mark the boundary between what human imagination can encompass and what remains beyond representation. Because of its rarity and its resemblance to the common computing term configurable, it should be used with care, but it offers a precise way to say that something can be brought before the mind's eye as an intelligible form.
Capable of being figured, pictured, or mentally represented; able to be conceived in a definite form.
"For Kant's readers, the challenge lay in whether such an infinite whole was truly figurable at all."
Rare and formal; most natural in philosophical, literary, or historical registers. Avoid confusion with configurable.
(Now rare) Representable by means of a figure or diagram, as in geometry or early mathematics.
"The treatise concerned itself only with problems that were figurable within the plane."
This sense is largely obsolete and appears mainly in older mathematical texts.
Before photography and simulation, calling something 'figurable' was high praise: it meant the mind could finally hold a shape for it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of figurable
Figurable traces back to the Latin verb figurare, meaning 'to form or shape,' itself derived from figura, 'shape or figure.' English adopted the word during its early modern expansion of Latinate vocabulary, forming it with the suffix -able to mean 'capable of being figured or shaped in the mind.' It shares this origin with words such as figure, figurative, configure, and disfigure, all descended from the same Latin root describing form and shape.
How figurable is actually used
Figurable is a rare, formal word, encountered mostly in philosophical, literary, or older mathematical writing rather than everyday speech. It carries a neutral to slightly learned connotation and should not be confused with the far more common configurable, which belongs to computing contexts.
Easily confused with figurable
Figurative means non-literal or metaphorical (as in figurative language), while figurable means capable of being mentally pictured or represented.
Configurable means able to be set up or adjusted by a user, whereas figurable means capable of being imagined or mentally formed.