What does figural mean?
"Figural" is a formal adjective describing things that pertain to figures or to the representation of forms, particularly the human figure in painting, sculpture, and other visual arts. A critic might praise a canvas's figural composition, meaning the arrangement of its depicted bodies and shapes, or contrast figural art with purely abstract work that depicts nothing recognizable. In psychology and education, the word takes on a second life: figural reasoning, figural analogies, and figural matrices refer to problems posed in shapes and patterns rather than words, making the term central to non-verbal intelligence testing. Derived from the Latin "figura" (shape, form), it shares deep roots with "figure" and "figurative," though it is narrower and more technical than either. Because "figural" signals expertise in fields like art history and psychometrics, it carries a scholarly register; in casual conversation it is rare, and writers who want a general-audience word usually choose "figurative" instead.
adjectiveOf or relating to figures or the representation of forms and figures, especially in art or visual imagery; in psychology, relating to shapes, patterns, or non-verbal perceptual material.
- Relating to the depiction or representation of figures or forms, especially the human form, in art.
- (Psychology) Relating to shapes, patterns, or visual-spatial material as opposed to verbal content, as in figural reasoning or figural analogies.
"The painter's figural style gave even his abstract canvases a hint of the human body."
"The fresco's figural composition draws the eye upward through a swirl of angels and saints."
"Children often score higher on figural analogies than on verbal ones."
From IQ tests to art criticism, "figural" is the word experts reach for whenever meaning lives in shapes rather than sentences.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of figural
"Figural" derives from the Latin "figura," meaning shape or form, itself formed from the verb "fingere" (to mold or shape). It entered English in the early modern period alongside a family of related borrowings such as "figure," "figurative," "configuration," and "disfigure." The same Latin root also lies behind "figment," reflecting the shared idea of something shaped or fashioned by the mind.
Related word forms
How figural is actually used
"Figural" is a formal, somewhat technical term, found chiefly in art criticism, aesthetics, literary theory, and psychometrics; in everyday speech "figurative" is far more common and should not be substituted blindly.
Easily confused with figural
"Figurative" means departing from literal meaning (as in metaphor) or using figures of speech, while "figural" more narrowly concerns figures, forms, and visual representation, especially in art and psychological testing.