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Crossword clues for figure

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
figure
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a central figure (=an important person with a lot of influence)
▪ During this time he was a central figure in American politics.
a controversial figure (=a person who does controversial things)
▪ He is a controversial figure in politics.
a hate figure (=someone who is hated by a lot of people)
▪ After the incident, he became a hate figure in the British press.
a key figure (=a key person)
▪ She was a key figure in the election campaign.
a realistic figure/price
▪ A more realistic figure for energy saving would be 20 percent.
a target figure
▪ The government has set a target figure of 6.2%
an authority figure (=someone, such as a parent or teacher, who has the power to tell young people what they can do)
▪ The teacher is an authority figure, like the parent.
approach/reach/go into etc double figures
▪ The death toll is thought to have reached double figures.
attendance figures
▪ Last year’s fair saw attendance figures of 32,000.
boyish figure
▪ At 45, she still had a trim boyish figure.
collate information/results/data/figures
▪ A computer system is used to collate information from across Britain.
colourful character/figure (=someone who is interesting and unusual)
comparable figures/data/results
▪ comparable figures for the same period of time last year
crime figures/statistics
▪ The new crime figures are not good.
double figures
▪ King’s was the only other score in double figures.
export sales/figures (=the total number of products that are sold to other countries)
▪ Export sales exceeded 50% of the company’s total turnover.
▪ Hong Kong is a major trading power, with annual export figures rivalling those of Germany.
father figure
▪ Ken was a father figure to all of us.
figure of eight
figure of speech
figure skating
forlorn figure
▪ a forlorn figure sitting all by herself
full figure/face/breasts etc
▪ clothes for the fuller figure
heroic figure
▪ She portrayed him as a heroic figure.
in round figures (=expressed as the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 etc)
▪ Altogether, in round figures, there are about three thousand students here.
lone figure
▪ A lone figure was standing at the bus stop.
massaging...figures
▪ Myers accused the government of deliberately massaging the unemployment figures.
prostrate body/figure/form
public figure (=famous person)
▪ Although not a public figure, he was a man of great influence.
run into six figures (=be over £100,000 or $100,000)
▪ The final cost of the project will easily run into six figures.
sales figures
▪ The company said its sales figures continued to show growth.
seasonally adjusted figures/rates/data etc (=ones that are changed according to what usually happens at a particular time of year)
shadowy figures
▪ the shadowy figures who control international terrorist organizations
significant figure
single figures
▪ Interest rates have stayed in single figures for over a year now.
slender figure
▪ Laura’s tall, slender figure
stick figure
the exact amount/number/figure
▪ I don’t know the exact amount, but it was a lot.
the inflation figures
▪ April's inflation figures are likely to show a further fall.
trim figure
▪ a trim figure
unemployment figures/statistics
▪ They publish monthly unemployment figures for the UK.
up-to-date information/data/figures/news etc
▪ They have access to up-to-date information through a computer database.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
central
▪ Like the east, this gable is symmetrically composed round a central still figure, but the construction is otherwise extremely different.
▪ A stele from Beaune museum shows him as the three-headed central figure of a triad of naked seated gods.
▪ First, you should get it clear in your mind just what the private-eye who is the central figure is.
▪ Ann Black, the central figure in State and Main, is, however, classic Mamet.
▪ The King was a central figure in the ritual of the church.
▪ In this long, hard pull, I was now cast as the central figure.
▪ What about a central figure in the case, the plaintiff, David Irving?
▪ He was too good at games for that, too central a figure among us to retreat into himself.
comparable
▪ The comparable figure for white households was 45 percent, and for non-immigrant black households, 39 percent.
▪ Because of changes in coverage, comparable figures are not available for 1981.
▪ The comparable figure, it said, for optical fibres was nearly £2000.
▪ The comparable United Kingdom figure for this period was 34 percent.
▪ The closest comparable figure for Wirral is the annual prevalence rate for the 16-34-year-old age group: 12 per 1,000.
▪ The comparable figure for expenditure in 1979-80 was £2.4 million.
▪ The comparable figure in 1979 was 2,750.
▪ The comparable figure for September 1988 was 397,000.
double
▪ Inflation was often in double figures.
▪ Twenty-one times in the last 21 games he has scored in double figures.
▪ It went into double figures on the first page.
▪ Johnson had not scored in double figures in the first five games.
▪ The young could number anything from two to well into double figures.
▪ In the nine games since, he has scored in double figures seven times.
▪ The big three's domination is such that their nearest rivals Limerick don't even make it into double figures.
▪ Before a morose crowd limply reaching double figures battle commenced at three o'clock.
exact
▪ Immediately contracts have been exchanged the exact redemption figure should be obtained from the mortgagee.
▪ No exact figure on how much revenue this generates could be obtained from state tax officials.
▪ Clients are apt to minimise numbers of assignments, whilst headhunters maximise them, and neither are willing to divulge exact figures.
▪ State biologists estimate its statewide population at 4, 000 to 6, 000, but exact figures are not known.
▪ I he exact commission figure is a matter for negotiation between the artist's manager and the agent.
▪ The exact figure remains undisclosed, but will be the same as Mr Leigh-Pemberton's pay over the past year.
▪ But for the writers and early translators of the Gospels, it was a very precise term, denoting a very exact figure.
▪ Rounding up from 0.3871, the more exact figure, to 0.39 gave Craig an unearned bonus of I 1.07 votes.
high
▪ As the angry voices rose higher and higher other black-gowned figures came in.
▪ In 1978 dollars this high figure becomes $ 5 million.
▪ Both types of survey show a far higher figure for crimes committed than do the official statistics produced by the police.
▪ The higher figures came for such easy-to-call labels as bulimia and alcohol and drug dependence.
▪ In absolute levels, we have fallen off only from the historically high 1980 figures.
▪ An officer in the Pskov division did not deny the higher figures.
▪ The higher figure kicks in if growth reaches 17. 5 percent annually.
key
▪ Kernaghan has been Boro's most consistent defender and a key figure in the Second Division promotion drive.
▪ The ruling brings together key figures in two other notorious Los Angeles criminal cases.
▪ Lucia Walker is one of the key figures in the development of contact improvisation in this country.
▪ Winter had wanted to introduce a budgetary control system based on monthly management accounts with the emphasis on key figures.
▪ He is alleged to have been a key figure in virtually all aspects of the Guinness affair.
▪ The key figure here is the number of seeks per access.
▪ Beanpole striker Andy Smith has emerged as one of the key figures in the Diamonds' recent revival.
leading
▪ What were the attitudes of the two leading figures?
▪ In January, too, the leading figures of the Conservative party met at Selsdon in order to hammer out new policies.
▪ Other leading figures in the party are also unlikely class warriors.
▪ Both seem sure to be leading figures again.
▪ A leading figure in the Arab world, sure that the Third World should not align itself with either superpower.
▪ He edited the school magazine and was a leading figure on the school's workers' council.
low
▪ They do not tell us why the level is set at its current average rather than some much higher or lower figure.
▪ We have calculated the West Palm Beach rate at a lower figure: $ 26. 75 a square foot.
▪ The slightly lower figure may relate to the more discursive nature of the subject.
▪ That might boost the take up into the low six figures.
▪ Leland's insistence on excellence meant production slowed to 400 cars per month - far too low a figure to be profitable.
▪ The 1990 appraisal at the lower figure reflected the sharp downturn of the Phoenix real-estate market.
▪ This equals the comparative cost and again the lowest figure represents the best value.
▪ Oil companies yesterday declared a gasoline price war, which should be reflected in lower inflation figures in future months.
official
▪ The official figure for the whole of June was 42 police and demonstrators killed; some foreign observers estimated up to 70 deaths.
▪ In April the notoriously unreliable official figure for the state's unemployment rate dropped for the second month running - to 8.6%.
▪ Campaigners say official accident figures don't give the true picture.
▪ According to the official figures, in 1984, 1 million women were registered unemployed, compared with 2.3 million men.
▪ Thirdly, even within a particular denomination, the official figures may not be strictly comparable over time.
▪ Latest official figures show that shoppers are even turning to credit again, to buy presents and stock up for Christmas.
▪ The latest official figures show a big rise in the amount of money in the economy.
▪ And that's official according to recent figures from the National Health Survey.
political
▪ Outside the Cabinet the rejected Mr Heath became an even more isolated political figure.
▪ The political figure who has tried the hardest to harness this newfound enthusiasm is Pat Robertson.
▪ How could a Prime Minister who gave voice to such sentiments be regarded as a political figure in his own right?
▪ Never in recent history has there been a political figure as vexing within his own party as President Clinton.
▪ His legal responsibilities for issues such as extradition have also brought him into contact with senior legal and political figures in Ireland.
▪ He is arguably the third most powerful political figure in the state, after Gov.
▪ Owen had an international reputation and close connections with political figures, but even he was subordinate to the principal librarian.
▪ Until relatively recently, organized religion has left environmental protection to environmental activists, concerned scientists and political figures.
public
▪ This was a tumultuous time, when many public figures came under political scrutiny.
▪ The Gingrich investigation is hardly the first time Cole has taken on highly placed public figures.
▪ Peter Allis has turned golf into a kind of harmless interview where public figures hit a few shots and chat about themselves.
▪ None of what has been said suggests that we should ignore ethical lapses or law-breaking by public figures.
▪ Point out that this is an extremely undemocratic and élitist attitude, particularly if it comes from public figures.
▪ The monarchists and conservatives claimed that all national and public figures and their acts should always be subject to scrutiny and criticism.
▪ Morrissey deliberately used his high profile to construct a public figure of some importance.
senior
▪ The Government refuses to hold a national poll despite pressure from its own backbenchers and senior party figures.
▪ The check-in clerk fell into a deep discussion with a nearby senior figure.
▪ Their membership included key ministers, the President of the Assembly, Tudjman's personal advisers and senior military figures.
▪ However, senior government figures say that Mr Mandelson's handling of the issue has damaged their faith in his political judgment.
▪ Many of its senior figures are his former employees and friends.
▪ There were also senior figures from the World Bank, the United Nations and other international organisations.
▪ Both Mercedes and Auto Union sent senior figures to the London funeral and the flowers started to arrive.
shadowy
▪ And then, for some reason, she thought of Miranda and the shadowy figure of Terence Patch.
▪ The best Rather could do was enthuse about shadowy figures in crowds who might or might not be somebody guilty of something.
▪ In all these transactions Balbinder seemed a shadowy figure.
▪ Following a brief but noisy scuffle, the window banged open and a shadowy figure burst through.
▪ To the right, open double doors hinted at shadowy figures.
▪ The veteran police officer had spotted a shadowy figure on the second floor of the complex.
▪ As his consciousness slipped away from him, he was aware of a shadowy figure appearing from the mist and standing over him.
▪ She sat down, then looked up to see the shadowy figure of the woman at the bar standing over her.
single
▪ But there are seven male to every one female tenured academic psychologist, and women heads of department are in single figures.
▪ Amid the not of splashing kids and teachers' voices, she and the child made a single still figure.
▪ Then, just before dusk a single figure was spotted again moving out of sight on the small col below the second pinnacle.
▪ It is wise not to talk about a single figure; discuss a range of figures.
▪ The Sergeant's torch played on a single figure ten yards away.
▪ By this, presumably, was meant the isolation of single figures in sequential positions like a Muybridge series in three dimensions.
▪ The birds are mostly static, and still shown in profile - a single figure on each page with no background.
▪ The two figures are a single figure.
tall
▪ The tall lanky figure of Billy Tolboys was slouched in the comer seat by the fire.
▪ A tall figure appeared in the canyon gloom; it had an enormous head.
▪ You barricaded your door against its tall figure.
▪ A tall figure came into view, then just as quickly vanished.
▪ A tall, dark figure in the shadows, leaning against the bole.
▪ Away below, a tall figure moved slowly through the trees of the demesne.
▪ Theo saw an exceptionally tall figure.
▪ Glancing in, he saw a tall, flustered figure turning away in disgust from the counter.
■ NOUN
authority
▪ It would seem that we are far more likely to obey unquestioningly when the authority figure is actually present.
▪ Disrespect the authority figure out there on the field and then wonder why the kids do it in their classrooms.
▪ The more status you give to a large number of authority figures, the more, relatively, you diminish your own.
▪ Has difficulty taking directions from authority figures? 4.
▪ As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪ One wonders what is the unspoken view of the other authority figures involved in setting this up?
▪ Tour operators have been licensed to sell 14.3 million holidays in the coming year, Civil Aviation Authority figures reveal.
▪ It was their word against a powerful authority figure, and they thought no one would believe them.
father
▪ Morrissey and Marr looked down like father figures.
▪ His surrogate father figure was killed.
▪ He spoke seldom, but he was never impatient with her, always kind, a companionable father figure.
▪ And one of the sturdiest of these is the father figure in the sky.
▪ And he registers genuine hurt at the fact that Buzzy regards Buck as more of a father figure than himself.
▪ With Diana out of the picture, Charles is emerging as a fitting father figure.
▪ Sondheim found a mentor, if not a father figure, in Hammerstein, Patinkin said.
trade
▪ Sydney fell by 2.4% after the release of worse-than-expected trade figures for March.
▪ Yesterday's trade figures showed clearly that export volumes were at record levels even in a worldwide economic downturn.
▪ United States trade figures for the second quarter of 1971 showed a deficit for the first time.
▪ Yesterday sterling enjoyed its first quiet day since the trade figures were released a week ago.
▪ Wall Street ignored January's poor trade figures, rising 2.4%.
▪ Get as many as you can for the trade figures.
▪ September trade figures, due on 24 October, are thought critical for sterling's fortunes.
▪ Pound sags as fears grow on October trade figures.
unemployment
▪ The monthly publication of the unemployment figures provides a depressing barometer of the dole queue.
▪ But the long recession, together with high unemployment figures and a stagnant housing market, has changed homeowners' perceptions.
▪ In 1979, he said, the incoming government had felt the unemployment figures were too high.
▪ Nationwide, unemployment figures went up by 41,000, making the total 2,908,900 million.
▪ That tightening-up process is still going on, and is likely to dampen the rise in the unemployment figures.
▪ Mr. Kinnock For 2.6 million of our fellow citizens the unemployment figures are not disappointing - they are absolutely devastating.
▪ What effect would that policy have on the unemployment figures?
■ VERB
show
▪ The table is now sorted in descending order according to the Amount field, as shown in figure 11. 5.
▪ In Figure 2.7 two alternative average cost curves are shown.
▪ The type of neuron found in the retina is shown in figure 4. 2 as an example.
▪ An example of this option is shown in figure 11.13.
▪ Module Header A description follows of a typical module header, as shown in figure 2.1.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a ball-park figure/estimate/amount
a fine figure of a man/woman
an outside figure/estimate etc
authority figure
▪ As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪ Disrespect the authority figure out there on the field and then wonder why the kids do it in their classrooms.
▪ From the beginning Jones worked to destroy his followers' confidence in any of the old authority figures in their lives.
▪ Has difficulty taking directions from authority figures? 4.
▪ It was their word against a powerful authority figure, and they thought no one would believe them.
▪ It would seem that we are far more likely to obey unquestioningly when the authority figure is actually present.
▪ One wonders what is the unspoken view of the other authority figures involved in setting this up?
▪ The more status you give to a large number of authority figures, the more, relatively, you diminish your own.
comparative figures/data
Comparative figures Prior year comparative figures have been restated to conform to the current year's presentation where appropriate.
▪ I do not want the comparative figures to be distorted.
▪ Inspection of the comparative figures is both instructive and startling.
▪ Significance levels for comparative data were determined by the Wilcoxon signed rank test.
▪ The comparative figures for 1991 were 25 and 19 respectively.
▪ The comparative figures one year later of 14% and 10.9% are still worrying.
▪ The most reliable of these comparative data measure voting in national elections.
▪ Whichever option societies take, comparative figures for the new disclosures will be required.
cult film/band/figure etc
▪ Brad Pitt in the cult film Fight Club was a fraudulent soap salesman.
▪ He became a cult figure in which notions of salvation by innocent suffering have a place.
▪ He is loved to the point of becoming a cult figure.
▪ He often introduces himself to boomer types as the B-string lyricist for that perennial underground cult band, the Grateful Dead.
▪ Healing spas were based on a local cult figure and the devotees underwent rituals which included bathing and communal eating.
▪ I start by telling him that he's quite the cult figure here in Annapolis, and he looks stunned.
▪ This, however, did not prevent him from becoming a cult figure among some of the Jacobins and other revolutionaries.
▪ Vanessa Nygaard is a cult figure waiting to happen, a gale-force personality blowing through Maples Pavilion.
cut a fine/strange etc figure
facts and figures
▪ The report contained some interesting facts and figures about the Saturn Corporation.
▪ He doesn't need to remember facts and figures, he actually sees the things and people of his cover-story life.
▪ He is notoriously tough on staff, often challenging them on facts and figures during council meetings.
▪ He learned how to boom out facts and figures to the city council members that they were unable to refute.
▪ It is not easy to make sense of the maze of facts and figures concerning the settlements.
▪ Most of the ones I run into need facts and figures.
▪ Stripped to their essentials his facts and figures are astonishing.
▪ These facts and figures added relatively little to what was already known in outline.
▪ When she left I quickly immersed myself in the safer, less emotional facts and figures of a real estate deal.
have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc
hourglass figure
▪ Instead of having an hourglass figure, whose curves suggested motherhood and domesticity, she was boyishly slim.
matchstick men/figures
▪ More like troubled at mill Salford says there's more to its patron saint than pictures of matchstick men.
six figures/digits
▪ But that must mean that the estate might run well into six figures.
▪ Each new compound synthesised was simply given a number, sometimes up to six figures long.
▪ Here are guys making six figures.
▪ Landsness obtained a settlement that he said exceeded six figures.
▪ Minutes later, a small group of six figures emerged from the woods.
▪ Movie rights have been sold, and Vintage Books just paid six figures to publish the paperback.
▪ That might boost the take up into the low six figures.
▪ The five-year deal is estimated at six figures.
sympathetic figure/character
▪ But now he, or she, needs to be an even broader, more sympathetic figure than before.
▪ Charles didn't find many sympathetic characters among the cast.
▪ The reader zooms through the story hoping for a resolution that will satisfy the mystery without sacrificing any of the sympathetic characters.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ ""We need $30,000 to get the project started.'' ""How close are you to that figure?''
▪ a figure in a red robe
▪ A comparison of the two figures shows the estimated profit on investment.
▪ a rare 16th century Japanese figure
▪ Add up that row of figures, and transfer the full amount to the top of the next page.
▪ Ali was one of the great sports figures of this century.
▪ Caroline really has a terrific figure.
▪ Dark figures emerged from the building, and disappeared into the night.
▪ Exercise and a sensible diet will help you get your figure back after having a baby.
▪ Freddy's bent figure limped in front of him.
▪ Government figures published today show that unemployment is rising again.
▪ He offered to buy the team for the figure of $140 million.
▪ I saw the figure of a woman below the bridge.
▪ Inflation in Japan is around 3%, while the German figure is now over 4%.
▪ Ohio's employment figures for December are not available.
▪ On a cheque, write the amount in words and in figures.
▪ Retailers are reporting their November sales figures today.
▪ sales figures
▪ She eats enormous meals but still manages to keep her figure.
▪ Susie wore a close-fitting black dress which made the most of her figure.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But for the writers and early translators of the Gospels, it was a very precise term, denoting a very exact figure.
▪ By the age of retirement that figure will increase to one in every five.
▪ Now, the. 78 figure might seem pretty good if one did not know two crucial facts about the study.
▪ She turned slowly and looked at the figure in the chair.
▪ That means a commitment to every figure in it, a commitment to taking a risk to achieve the budgeted outputs.
▪ The figures were recently released by the magazine.
▪ The Gingrich investigation is hardly the first time Cole has taken on highly placed public figures.
▪ The motionless figures ap-peared determined still to make the leap to the playground.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
largely
▪ At Sussex University, he met Gail Rebuck, who would figure largely in his life for the next twenty years.
▪ The railway system continued to figure largely in high political planning in 1922.
▪ The name of Carl August of Saxe-Weimar figured largely, but I had heard neither of him nor of it.
▪ Britten's accompaniments have figured largely in our discussion.
▪ Machinery figured largely in Cumbria and Wester Ross reflecting no doubt the distance from repair facilities.
out
▪ Also, I've figured out what Wilko's doing with Rocky.
▪ Whenever my sons, John, and I eat out together, Miles and Evan always figure out the bill.
▪ Dazedly I got back into bed and tried to figure out what had happened.
▪ The prosecutors want to figure out what we are looking for.
▪ Keith can not figure out why Potter looks so funny.
▪ Clearly, one advantage of public-key cryptography is that no one can figure out the private key from the corresponding public key.
▪ Hippix is Hippo's first product and it is currently trying to figure out its target market.
▪ She can learn to observe herself, figuring out what she does easily and what takes more work.
prominently
▪ The condition should figure prominently in undergraduate clinical training and in medical textbooks.
▪ But this group are the bedrock of the institution - and as such should figure prominently in our prayers.
▪ They were to figure prominently among the more tragic case histories.
▪ Claims and counter-claims of this kind were to figure prominently for generations in Ottoman-Habsburg negotiations.
▪ Lords, ladies, dukes and duchesses figure prominently among the names as well as more ordinary mortals of obviously substantial means.
■ NOUN
way
▪ Maybe he figured the only way to get her off his back was to confess.
▪ A new state law says they have to figure out a way to recycle it.
▪ Have we ever figured out a rational way to explain and triage which drugs should be banned for which reasons?
▪ Every society must figure out ways to bring them into the disciplines and duties of citizenship.
▪ They decided we owned more land than we needed, and they figured out a way to get it.
▪ Many defiant children are also unusually clever; figuring out ways to defeat your most sophisticated arguments.
▪ They figured out a way to trick him.
▪ So Knapman, an indigent, is stuck at the hospital trying to figure a way out of the mess.
ways
▪ Every society must figure out ways to bring them into the disciplines and duties of citizenship.
▪ Many defiant children are also unusually clever; figuring out ways to defeat your most sophisticated arguments.
▪ She moved from being easily overwhelmed and cautious to figuring out ways both to calm herself and to master new experiences.
▪ The Republicans have hired consultants to figure out ways to appeal to those women not already turned off.
▪ One of the tasks facing all freshmen is to figure out ways to counter this loneliness.
▪ Heloise has figured out little ways to cut back on calories, she says.
■ VERB
try
▪ Connelly blinked myopically, trying to clear his gaze, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
▪ He was trying to figure out how bad it was going to be.
▪ I tried to figure him out; he was by no means the worst of the bunch.
▪ He went on talking while I tried to figure out what it meant.
▪ So they're up there in the cashiers' office trying to figure out where all the money's coming from.
▪ I read books, trying to figure it out.
▪ That's what I do when I get worried - I try to figure it out.
▪ I fiddle at my computer for a while, trying to figure out what to say.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a ball-park figure/estimate/amount
a fine figure of a man/woman
an outside figure/estimate etc
authority figure
▪ As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪ Disrespect the authority figure out there on the field and then wonder why the kids do it in their classrooms.
▪ From the beginning Jones worked to destroy his followers' confidence in any of the old authority figures in their lives.
▪ Has difficulty taking directions from authority figures? 4.
▪ It was their word against a powerful authority figure, and they thought no one would believe them.
▪ It would seem that we are far more likely to obey unquestioningly when the authority figure is actually present.
▪ One wonders what is the unspoken view of the other authority figures involved in setting this up?
▪ The more status you give to a large number of authority figures, the more, relatively, you diminish your own.
comparative figures/data
Comparative figures Prior year comparative figures have been restated to conform to the current year's presentation where appropriate.
▪ I do not want the comparative figures to be distorted.
▪ Inspection of the comparative figures is both instructive and startling.
▪ Significance levels for comparative data were determined by the Wilcoxon signed rank test.
▪ The comparative figures for 1991 were 25 and 19 respectively.
▪ The comparative figures one year later of 14% and 10.9% are still worrying.
▪ The most reliable of these comparative data measure voting in national elections.
▪ Whichever option societies take, comparative figures for the new disclosures will be required.
cult film/band/figure etc
▪ Brad Pitt in the cult film Fight Club was a fraudulent soap salesman.
▪ He became a cult figure in which notions of salvation by innocent suffering have a place.
▪ He is loved to the point of becoming a cult figure.
▪ He often introduces himself to boomer types as the B-string lyricist for that perennial underground cult band, the Grateful Dead.
▪ Healing spas were based on a local cult figure and the devotees underwent rituals which included bathing and communal eating.
▪ I start by telling him that he's quite the cult figure here in Annapolis, and he looks stunned.
▪ This, however, did not prevent him from becoming a cult figure among some of the Jacobins and other revolutionaries.
▪ Vanessa Nygaard is a cult figure waiting to happen, a gale-force personality blowing through Maples Pavilion.
facts and figures
▪ The report contained some interesting facts and figures about the Saturn Corporation.
▪ He doesn't need to remember facts and figures, he actually sees the things and people of his cover-story life.
▪ He is notoriously tough on staff, often challenging them on facts and figures during council meetings.
▪ He learned how to boom out facts and figures to the city council members that they were unable to refute.
▪ It is not easy to make sense of the maze of facts and figures concerning the settlements.
▪ Most of the ones I run into need facts and figures.
▪ Stripped to their essentials his facts and figures are astonishing.
▪ These facts and figures added relatively little to what was already known in outline.
▪ When she left I quickly immersed myself in the safer, less emotional facts and figures of a real estate deal.
have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc
hourglass figure
▪ Instead of having an hourglass figure, whose curves suggested motherhood and domesticity, she was boyishly slim.
matchstick men/figures
▪ More like troubled at mill Salford says there's more to its patron saint than pictures of matchstick men.
six figures/digits
▪ But that must mean that the estate might run well into six figures.
▪ Each new compound synthesised was simply given a number, sometimes up to six figures long.
▪ Here are guys making six figures.
▪ Landsness obtained a settlement that he said exceeded six figures.
▪ Minutes later, a small group of six figures emerged from the woods.
▪ Movie rights have been sold, and Vintage Books just paid six figures to publish the paperback.
▪ That might boost the take up into the low six figures.
▪ The five-year deal is estimated at six figures.
sympathetic figure/character
▪ But now he, or she, needs to be an even broader, more sympathetic figure than before.
▪ Charles didn't find many sympathetic characters among the cast.
▪ The reader zooms through the story hoping for a resolution that will satisfy the mystery without sacrificing any of the sympathetic characters.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ He needs to sit down and figure out how many people are coming.
▪ I'm telling you because I figure you're the only one who can keep a secret.
▪ Lott figured prominently in the Chiefs' win last night.
▪ The operation went fine, and they figure he'll be home next week.
▪ There has been criticism about the current method for figuring social security retirement benefits.
▪ What do you figure his chances of winning are?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Destiny will figure further down Olivetti's range, on personal computers and the M700.
▪ I figured we had as much right to vote for old crooks as new ones.
▪ She was younger and prettier than any of us' d figured on.
▪ So they're up there in the cashiers' office trying to figure out where all the money's coming from.
▪ The dwarfs were devastated, because they could not figure out how to save Snow White this time.
▪ The Reichmanns figured that if New York went out of business the world would go with it.
▪ We had their offense and defense figured out exceptionally well.
▪ You haven't figured it out yet?
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Figure

Figure \Fig"ure\ (f[i^]g"[-u]r; 135), n. [F., figure, L. figura; akin to fingere to form, shape, feign. See Feign.]

  1. The form of anything; shape; outline; appearance.

    Flowers have all exquisite figures.
    --Bacon.

  2. The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modeling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body; as, a figure in bronze; a figure cut in marble.

    A coin that bears the figure of an angel.
    --Shak.

  3. A pattern in cloth, paper, or other manufactured article; a design wrought out in a fabric; as, the muslin was of a pretty figure.

  4. (Geom.) A diagram or drawing, made to represent a magnitude or the relation of two or more magnitudes; a surface or space inclosed on all sides; -- called superficial when inclosed by lines, and solid when inclosed by surfaces; any arrangement made up of points, lines, angles, surfaces, etc.

  5. The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person; as, a sorry figure.

    I made some figure there.
    --Dryden.

    Gentlemen of the best figure in the county.
    --Blackstone.

  6. Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendor; show.

    That he may live in figure and indulgence.
    --Law.

  7. A character or symbol representing a number; a numeral; a digit; as, 1, 2,3, etc.

  8. Value, as expressed in numbers; price; as, the goods are estimated or sold at a low figure. [Colloq.]

    With nineteen thousand a year at the very lowest figure.
    --Thackeray.

  9. A person, thing, or action, conceived of as analogous to another person, thing, or action, of which it thus becomes a type or representative.

    Who is the figure of Him that was to come.
    --Rom. v. 14.

  10. (Rhet.) A mode of expressing abstract or immaterial ideas by words which suggest pictures or images from the physical world; pictorial language; a trope; hence, any deviation from the plainest form of statement. Also called a figure of speech.

    To represent the imagination under the figure of a wing.
    --Macaulay.

  11. (Logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.

  12. (Dancing) Any one of the several regular steps or movements made by a dancer.

  13. (Astrol.) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses.
    --Johnson.

  14. (Music)

    1. Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression.
      --Grove.

    2. A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a musical phrase or motive; a florid embellishment.

      Note: Figures are often written upon the staff in music to denote the kind of measure. They are usually in the form of a fraction, the upper figure showing how many notes of the kind indicated by the lower are contained in one measure or bar. Thus, 2/4 signifies that the measure contains two quarter notes. The following are the principal figures used for this purpose: -- 2/22/42/8 4/22/44/8 3/23/43/8 6/46/46/8

      Academy figure, Canceled figures, Lay figure, etc. See under Academy, Cancel, Lay, etc.

      Figure caster, or Figure flinger, an astrologer. ``This figure caster.''
      --Milton.

      Figure flinging, the practice of astrology.

      Figure-of-eight knot, a knot shaped like the figure 8. See Illust. under Knot.

      Figure painting, a picture of the human figure, or the act or art of depicting the human figure.

      Figure stone (Min.), agalmatolite.

      Figure weaving, the art or process of weaving figured fabrics.

      To cut a figure, to make a display. [Colloq.]
      --Sir W. Scott.

Figure

Figure \Fig"ure\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Figured; p. pr. & vb. n. Figuring.] [F. figurer, L. figurare, fr. figura. See Figure, n.]

  1. To represent by a figure, as to form or mold; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape.

    If love, alas! be pain I bear,

    No thought can figure, and no tongue declare.Prior.

  2. To embellish with design; to adorn with figures.

    The vaulty top of heaven Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.
    --Shak.

  3. To indicate by numerals; also, to compute.

    As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen.
    --Dryden.

  4. To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.

    Whose white vestments figure innocence.
    --Shak.

  5. To prefigure; to foreshow.

    In this the heaven figures some event.
    --Shak.

  6. (Mus.)

    1. To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords.

    2. To embellish.

      To figure out, to solve; to compute or find the result of.

      To figure up, to add; to reckon; to compute the amount of.

Figure

Figure \Fig"ure\, v. i.

  1. To make a figure; to be distinguished or conspicious; as, the envoy figured at court.

    Sociable, hospitable, eloquent, admired, figuring away brilliantly.
    --M. Arnold.

  2. To calculate; to contrive; to scheme; as, he is figuring to secure the nomination. [Colloq.]

    go figure a phrase used by itself as an interjection to mean ``How can one explain that?'', or to express puzzlement over some seeming contradiction. [Colloq.]

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
figure

late 14c., "to represent" (in painting or sculpture), "make a likeness," also "to have a certain shape or appearance," from Old French figurer, from Latin figurare (see figure (n.)). Meaning "to shape into" is c.1400; from mid-15c. as "to cover or adorn with figures." Meaning "to picture in the mind" is from c.1600. Intransitive meaning "make an appearance, make a figure, show oneself" is from c.1600. Meaning "work out a sum" (by means of arithmetical figures) is from 1833, American English; hence colloquial sense "to calculate upon, expect" (1837). Related: Figured; figuring.

figure

c.1200, "numeral;" mid-13c., "visible appearance of a person;" late 14c., "visible and tangible form of anything," from Old French figure "shape, body; form of a word; figure of speech; symbol, allegory" (10c), from Latin figura "a shape, form, figure; quality, kind, style; figure of speech," in Late Latin "a sketch, drawing," from PIE *dheigh- "to form, build" (see dough).\n

\nPhilosophical and scientific senses are from use of Latin figura to translate Greek skhema. Meaning "lines forming a shape" is from mid-14c. From mid-14c. as "human body as represented by art;" late 15c. as "a body, the human form as a whole." The rhetorical use of figure, "peculiar use of words giving meaning different from usual," dates to late 14c.; hence figure of speech (by 1704). Figure-skating is from 1835. Figure eight as a shape was originally figure of eight (c.1600). From late 14c. as "a cut or diagram inserted in text."

Wiktionary
figure

n. 1 A drawing or diagram conveying information. 2 The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body. 3 A person or thing representing a certain consciousness. vb. 1 To solve a mathematical problem. 2 To come to understand. 3 (context intransitive English) To be reasonable. 4 (context transitive English) To enter, be a part of. 5 (context obsolete English) To represent by a figure, as to form or mould; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape. 6 To embellish with design; to adorn with figures. 7 (context obsolete English) To indicate by numerals. 8 To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize. 9 (context obsolete English) To prefigure; to foreshow. 10 (context music English) To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords. 11 (context music English) To embellish.

WordNet
figure
  1. v. judge to be probable [syn: calculate, estimate, reckon, count on, forecast]

  2. be or play a part of or in; "Elections figure prominently in every government program"; "How do the elections figure in the current pattern of internal politics?" [syn: enter]

  3. imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind; "I can't see him on horseback!"; "I can see what will happen"; "I can see a risk in this strategy" [syn: visualize, visualise, envision, project, fancy, see, picture, image]

  4. make a mathematical calculation or computation [syn: calculate, cipher, cypher, compute, work out, reckon]

  5. understand; "He didn't figure her"

figure
  1. n. a diagram or picture illustrating textual material; "the area covered can be seen from Figure 2" [syn: fig]

  2. alternative names for the body of a human being; "Leonardo studied the human body"; "he has a strong physique"; "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" [syn: human body, physical body, material body, soma, build, physique, anatomy, shape, bod, chassis, frame, form, flesh]

  3. one of the elements that collectively form a system of numbers; "0 and 1 are digits" [syn: digit]

  4. a model of a bodily form (especially of a person); "he made a figure of Santa Claus"

  5. a well-known or notable person; "they studied all the great names in the history of France"; "she is an important figure in modern music" [syn: name, public figure]

  6. a combination of points and lines and planes that form a visible palpable shape

  7. an amount of money expressed numerically; "a figure of $17 was suggested"

  8. the impression produced by a person; "he cut a fine figure"; "a heroic figure"

  9. the property possessed by a sum or total or indefinite quantity of units or individuals; "he had a number of chores to do"; "the number of parameters is small"; "the figure was about a thousand" [syn: number]

  10. language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense [syn: trope, figure of speech, image]

  11. a unitary percept having structure and coherence that is the object of attention and that stands out against a ground [ant: ground]

  12. a decorative or artistic work; "the coach had a design on the doors" [syn: design, pattern]

  13. a predetermined set of movements in dancing or skating; "she made the best score on compulsory figures"

Wikipedia
Figure

Figure may refer to:

  • A shape, drawing, or depiction
  • Figure (wood), wood appearance
  • Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif
  • Noise figure, in telecommunication
  • Dance figure, an elementary dance pattern
  • A person's figure, human physical appearance
Figure (horse)

Figure was a small bay stallion owned by Justin Morgan; he became the foundation sire of the Morgan horse breed.

Figure (music)

A musical figure or figuration is the shortest idea in music; a short succession of notes, often recurring. It may have melodic pitch, harmonic progression and rhythm (duration). The 1964 Grove's Dictionary defines the figure as "the exact counterpart of the German 'motiv' and the French ' motif'": it produces a "single complete and distinct impression". To the self-taught Scruton, however, "A figure is distinguished from a motif in that a figure is background while a motif is foreground: "A figure resembles a moulding in architecture: it is 'open at both ends', so as to be endlessly repeatable. In hearing a phrase as a figure, rather than a motif, we are at the same time placing it in the background, even if it is...strong and melodious."

A phrase originally presented or heard as a motif may become a figure that accompanies another melody, such as in the second movement of Claude Debussy's String Quartet. It is perhaps best to view a figure as a motif when it has special importance in a piece. According to White, motives are, "significant in the structure of the work," while figures or figurations are not and, "may often occur in accompaniment passages or in transitional or connective material designed to link two sections together," with the former being more common.

Minimalist music may be constructed entirely from figures. Scruton describes music by Philip Glass such as Akhnaten as "nothing but figures...endless daisy-chains".

A basic figure is known as a riff in American popular music.

Figure (wood)

In wood, figure refers to the appearance of wood, as seen on a longitudinal surface (side-grain): a "figured wood" is not plain.

The figure of a particular piece of wood is, in part, due to its grain and, in part, due to the cut, or to innate properties of the wood. A few of the tropical hardwoods, like the rosewoods, may have quite spectacular figure.

Types of figure include "bear scratches," bird's eye, blister, burl, curl, ribbon curl, dimple, fiddleback, flame, wide flame, "ghost", pin stripe, quilted, spalted and tiger stripe.

Figure (musician)

Josh Gard, better known by his stage name Figure, is an American electronic music producer and DJ.

Figure is largely known for his Monsters series, which features drumstep tracks mixed with horror movie samples. As of 2015, he has released 6 volumes in the series. From 2012-15 Universal Studios enlisted Figure to supply the soundtrack for their their annual event Halloween Horror Nights.

Besides his horror themed releases, Figure has also ventured into traditional electronic music genres. On September 24, 2013 he released an EP titled "Horns of the Apocalypse" through the record label OWSLA. Further showcasing his abilities, Figure released a full-length album titled "Gravity" on August 31, 2015.

Figure's song "Monster Mania" was featured on the sixth episode of season eleven of the show, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Usage examples of "figure".

He had figured to himself some passionate hysterique, merciless as a cat in her hate and her love, a zealous abettor, perhaps even the ruling spirit in the crime.

The musty auditorium was a dimly lit torture chamber, filled with the droning dull voice punctuated by the sharp screams of the electrified, the sea of nodding heads abob here and there with painfully leaping figures.

When figure 188 is examined, it will be noticed that the recurve is spoiled by the appendage abutting upon it between the shoulders at a right angle, so it must also be classified with the tented arches.

The Pleiades were all abuzz over the advent of their visiting star, Miss Frances Homer, the celebrated monologuist, who, at Eaton Auditorium, again presented her Women of Destiny series, in which she portrays women of history and the influence they brought to bear upon the lives of such momentous world figures as Napoleon, Ferdinand of Spain, Horatio Nelson and Shakespeare.

Glancing at the accelerometer I noticed that the needle was nudging past five and was almost at the figure six.

He held a number of bills, many of which were suspected by him to be forged--that is to say, that the figures had been altered after the signature of the acceptor had been written.

The heart and facial features were clearly outlined with bright red achiote and the entire figure was torn with lance marks.

As for boasting of our past, the laudator temporis acti makes but a poor figure in our time.

Data looked up, to find Darryl Adin staring at the figure of Tasha, his expression a painful mixture of surprise and sorrow.

The place was filled all day by the devout, who came to adore the Mother of God, whose figure was only interesting by reason of her magnificent breast.

That part was the recoil, and it is the recoil of the guns I figure on putting aboard my aerial warship that is giving me such trouble.

The thing was going so fast he had but an instant apprehension of the dark figure of the aeronaut crouched together clutching at his wheel.

But not all of this could wipe out those figures that had just been put up on the board, which proclaimed a victory for the Prescott aeroplane by a margin of three and twenty-one hundredths minutes!

Two Afghanis escorted a smaller figure who had been, unlike him, riding free.

They figured the Kurds, Afghanis, and Tuaregs already there would like a bit of smoke, and they could always refine opium into heroin if the Irish and Basques preferred needles to pipes.