figment
English edit
Etymology edit
From Late Latin figmentum (“anything made, a fiction”), from fingō (“make, form, feign”); see fiction, feign.
Pronunciation edit
- (UK, General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɪɡ.mənt/
- (US)
(file) - (General Australian)
(file) - Rhymes: -ɪɡmənt
Noun edit
figment (plural figments)
- A fabrication, fantasy, invention; something fictitious.
- 1989 (Sep 30), R. McNeill Alexander, "Biomechanics in the days before Newton", New Scientist volume 123, No. 1684, page 59
- He had not seen sarcomeres: these segments were a figment of his imagination.
- 1999, Martin Gardner, The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, page 12:
- Perhaps, dear reader, you are only a figment in the dream of some god, as Sherlock Holmes was a figment in the mind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- 2004, Daniel C. Noel, In a Wayward Mood: Selected Writings 1969-2002, page 256:
- Jung's implication here is clearly that one should try to forget that this is only a figment or fantasy, merely make-believe—or perhaps that one should forget the “only,” the “merely”—and indeed take the fantasy seriously as a reality.
- 1989 (Sep 30), R. McNeill Alexander, "Biomechanics in the days before Newton", New Scientist volume 123, No. 1684, page 59
Usage notes edit
- Often used in the form "a figment of one's imagination".
Related terms edit
Translations edit
fabrication, fantasy, invention
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References edit
- “figment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “figment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.