Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - figure

(figures, figuring, figured) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. A figure is a particular amount expressed as a number, especially a statistic. It would be very nice if we had a true figure of how many people in this country haven’t got a job... It will not be long before the inflation figure starts to fall... New Government figures predict that one in two marriages will end in divorce. N-COUNT 2. A figure is any of the ten written symbols from 0 to 9 that are used to represent a number. = digit N-COUNT 3. An amount or number that is in single figures is between zero and nine. An amount or number that is in double figures is between ten and ninety-nine. You can also say, for example, that an amount or number is in three figures when it is between one hundred and nine hundred and ninety-nine. Inflation, which has usually been in single figures, is running at more than 12%... Crawley, with 14, was the only other player to reach double figures... N-PLURAL: adj/num N 4. You refer to someone that you can see as a figure when you cannot see them clearly or when you are describing them. She waited, standing on the bridge, until his figure vanished against the grey backdrop of the Palace... N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n 5. In art, a figure is a person in a drawing or a painting, or a statue of a person. ...a life-size bronze figure of a brooding, hooded woman. N-COUNT 6. Your figure is the shape of your body. Take pride in your health and your figure... Janet was a natural blonde with a good figure. N-COUNT: with supp, oft poss/adj N 7. Someone who is referred to as a figure of a particular kind is a person who is well-known and important in some way. The movement is supported by key figures in the three main political parties. N-COUNT: with supp 8. If you say that someone is, for example, a mother figure or a hero figure, you mean that other people regard them as the type of person stated or suggested. Sometimes young lads just need to turn to a mother figure for a bit of a chat and reassurance. N-COUNT: with supp, usu n N, N of n 9. In books and magazines, the diagrams which help to show or explain information are referred to as figures. If you look at a world map (see Figure 1) you can identify the major wine-producing regions... N-COUNT: also N num 10. In geometry, a figure is a shape, especially a regular shape. (TECHNICAL) Draw a pentagon, a regular five-sided figure. N-COUNT: usu supp N 11. If you figure that something is the case, you think or guess that it is the case. (INFORMAL) She figured that both she and Ned had learned a lot from the experience. VERB: V that 12. If you say ‘That figures’ or ‘It figures’, you mean that the fact referred to is not surprising. (INFORMAL) When I finished, he said, ‘Yeah. That figures’... VERB: that/it V, also it V that 13. If a person or thing figures in something, they appear in or are included in it. Human rights violations figured prominently in the report. VERB: no passive, V in n, also V as n