adj .
based on figures of speech ; expressing something in terms usually used for something else ; metaphorical 말의 상징에 기초한 ; 일반적으로 다른 사물을 일컫는 용어로 표현하는 ; 은유의

• To say that the autumn hillside was a blaze of color is to use the word blaze in a figurative sense. The hillside wasn't really on fire, but the colors of the leaves made it appear (somewhat) as though it were.
• When the mayer said that the housing market had sprouted wings, he was speaking figuratively. The housing market hadn't really sprouted wings : it had merely grown so rapidly that it had almost seemed to fly.
  시장이 비유적인 표현을 사용해서 주택시장이 날개를 달았다고 말했다. 주택시장이 실제로 날개를 달게 된 것은 아니었다 : 주택시장의 성장속도가 아주 빨라서 거의 날아가는 것 같았다는 의미이다.
• A figurative meaning of a word is one that is not literal. A literal statement is one in which every word means exactly what it says if the housing market had literally sprouted wings, genuine wings would somehow have popped out of it.
• People very, very often confuse these words, using one when they really mean the other. Andy could literally eat money if he chewed up and swallowed a dollar bill. Andy's car eats money only figuratively, in the sense that it is very expensive to operate.