[General] The meaning of “figurative meaning”?

[mehong19]

What does it mean by 'figurative meaning'? what is the difference compared to literal meaning?

 

[emsr2d2]

What does [STRIKE]it[/STRIKE][STRIKE] mean by[/STRIKE] 'figurative meaning' mean? What is the difference [strike]compared to[/strike] between it and "literal meaning"?

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

What did you find when you looked up "figurative" in the dictionary?

 

[mehong19]

Thanks for correcting!:-D It helps me improving.

Here is what I learned from the installed eDictionary in my PC.
Definition: If you use a word or expression in a figurative sense, you use it with a more abstract or imaginative meaning than its ordinary literal one.

 

[emsr2d2]

OK, so that definition has already given you the difference between "figurative meaning" and "literal meaning". I assume you also looked up "literal". For more definitions, bookmark OneLook.com.

 

[mehong19]

May I think in this way... The figurative meaning is sort of derivative or extended meaning from original literal meaning?

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Mehong:

I just thought that you would like this example from one of my dictionaries:

"Gold is the tears shed by the sun." -- The New Oxford American Dictionary (2001).

One more example: "A thousand apologies." This kind of figurative speech is called hyperbole. -- Perrin's Index to English (1977) by Wilma and David Ebbitt.

 

[emsr2d2]

Do you not think that should be "Gold are the tears ..."?

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


I agree with the moderator that "are" would sound more natural.

This is how the aforesaid dictionary put it:

"[G]old, in the figurative language of the people, was [my emphasis] 'the tears shed by the sun.' "



James

 

[emsr2d2]

Ah, I see. "Was" refers to "gold" not to "tears".

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

Getting back to the matter at hand for a moment, it is now unfortunately the case that the use of the word 'literally' is acceptable when the speaker actually means 'figuratively'.

And I know this because I have read literally thousands of articles on the subject!

 

[SoothingDave]

Our Vice President Biden is literally famous for misusing "literally" in this manner.

 

[Tarheel]

I am not a teacher.

Getting back to the matter at hand for a moment, it is now unfortunately the case that the use of the word 'literally' is acceptable when the speaker actually means 'figuratively'.

And I know this because I have read literally thousands of articles on the subject!

Why do I not believe you?
;-)