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What is a figurative sense? |
| Definition | |
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A figurative sense is a meaning that is derived from a primary sense by analogy (for example, personification), association (for example, metonymy), or similarity (for example, metaphor and simile). | |
| Discussion | |
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A figurative sense shares one or more supplemental semantic components with the primary sense of a lexeme, but it often negates one or more of the obligatory semantic components. As a result, it is only related to the primary sense in an abstract or generalized way. | |
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A figurative sense will often bring to mind a picture of the primary sense. However, a literal interpretation of the figurative sense will be strange, nonsensical, or wrong. Figurative senses often have few collocates and limited contexts of usage. | |
| Examples (English) | |
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The word jungle has a primary sense meaning "land covered with dense growth of trees, tall vegetation, and vines, typically in tropical regions, and inhabited by predatory animals". | |
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By extension of meaning, jungle can refer to any place with a dense, tangled growth of trees and vegetation, as illustrated in the sentence, "I need to take care of the jungle in my backyard." This meaning is a secondary sense of jungle. | |
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The meaning of jungle can further be extended in a figurative sense to include non-plants and refer to any tangled, disorganized set of objects, as in "You can find it if you dig through the jungle in my closet." | |
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It may be even further extended in a more abstract way to mean anything that confuses by its tangled or complex nature, as in "Life can be a jungle sometimes." | |
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Page content last modified: 5 January 2004 |
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© 2004 SIL International |
