Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - figure out

If you figure out a solution to a problem or the reason for something, you succeed in solving it or understanding it. (INFORMAL) It took them about one month to figure out how to start the equipment... They’re trying to figure out the politics of this whole situation... I don’t have to be a detective to figure that out. = work out PHRASAL VERB: V P wh/that, V P n (not pron), V n P