1EXACTa figurative word or phrase is used in a different way from its usual meaning, to give you a particular idea or picture in your mind 比喻的,借喻的 → literal
They have a taste – figuratively speaking – for excitement.
用个形象的说法,刺激合他们的“口味”。
Examples from the Corpus
figurative• Certainly the titlesencourage the spectator to identify some forms as almost figurative.• Where he is abstract and geometric, she is figurative and expressionist.• What then did the figurativeartistsdepict?• The essence of realism, it is not merely figurative but meticulously mimetic.• Rolle can only talk about it in figurative terms.