figuration
- noun
- /fɪˈɡjʊəˌreɪʃən/
:
figuración
- The artist's latest painting is a beautiful figuration of the struggles faced by the oppressed.
- figuration of the simulacrum
- figuration in literary discourse
- figuration of absence
Examples
-
Even after this date, however, variations in attitudes toward figuration existed, as some later Islamic rulers issued coins bearing figural imagery.
Academic text (2002) -
In addition to this metonymic figuration of Mme. Arnoux, Frederic is again fixated on certain of her physical attributes.
Academic text (1990) -
No one can also be seen in this context as a figuration of word of mouth itself.
Academic text (1997) -
This is the great description and figuration of gluttony.
-
On its north flank was a figuration of rocks, the profile of an immense bearded man reclining across the horizon.
Fiction book (1997) -
Because such moments appear extensively, they promise another opportunity to consider Shakespeare from the perspective of stylistic figuration, as I have suggested in "'Measure for Measure': Chiasmus, Justice, and Mercy."
Academic text (2005) -
The preceding argument shows clearly that Borges' figuration of the simulacrum is more complex than Baudrillard's discussion of Borges in Simulations would suggest.
Academic text (2001) -
The trickster is a communal sign in a comic narrative; the comic holotrope (the whole figuration) is a consonance in tribal discourse.
Academic text (1990) -
In her novel, the use of animals as characters serves as a clever figuration of human ambitions and flaws.
-
The sculptor created a stunning figuration that symbolizes freedom and resilience through the use of abstract forms.
Synonyms
74
3.5
A picture or model that shows what something looks like
63
4.4
A way of showing a person or thing in art and performance
46
5.5
A way of using images or objects to stand for ideas and qualities
44
8.2
A use of words that means more than the usual meaning
25
4.4
A description using words that shows what something is like
12
7.8
A story or picture whose people and events show moral and political ideas
Use of images to suggest ideas rather than show things exactly
How Figurative
Surface Forms
Morphology
figuration = figure (semi-transparent) = figur + ation
The form clearly contains figure plus -ation, but the symbolic or allegorical art-literary sense is a specialized extension that is not fully predictable for all learners.
Etymology
Figuration comes from the Latin figura meaning 'shape' or 'form', the same root as figure and figurative. So in art or writing figuration means giving ideas a shape or image, using forms as symbols to represent something else.