From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfigurativefig‧u‧ra‧tive /ˈfɪɡjərətɪv, -ɡə-/ ●○○ adjective 1 EXACTa figurative word or phrase is used in a different way from its usual meaning, to give you a particular idea or picture in your mind → literal He’s my son, in the figurative sense of the word.2 technicalAV figurative art shows objects, people, or the countryside as they really look → abstract —figuratively adverb They have a taste – figuratively speaking – for excitement.
Examples from the Corpus
figurative• Certainly the titles encourage the spectator to identify some forms as almost figurative.• Where he is abstract and geometric, she is figurative and expressionist.• What then did the figurative artists depict?• The essence of realism, it is not merely figurative but meticulously mimetic.• Rolle can only talk about it in figurative terms.in the figurative sense• Miracle in the figurative sense, since although we do not know how cells evolved, quite plausible scenarios have been proposed. 