figur-; fig-

(Latin: form, shape, figure; to make, to shape, to form)

configurate (verb), configurates; configurated; configurating
1. To take a position; such as, the parts of a complex structure; to agree with a pattern.
2. To give a form or design to something.
configuration (s) (noun), configurations (pl)


The physical shape of a figure.
© ALL rights are reserved.

The structural form of a person.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

cyberfiction (s) (noun), cyberfictions (pl)
Stories, or lies, spread around on the internet: There are many examples of cyberfictions being sent out on the internet and so it is necessary that all of us have doubts about anything that is sent out by websites.
1. An appearance that has been spoiled or is misshapen.
2. The result of being disfigured; such as, a permanent scar.
effigy (s) (noun), effigies (pl)
1. A crude figure or dummy representing a hated person or group.
2. The likeness of or an image of something or someone.
3. A representation or image; especially, sculptured, as on a monument.
4. A representation of someone, used as a focus for contempt or ridicule and often hung up or burnt in public; often used in the phrases "burn in effigy" or "hang in effigy".
5. Etymology: "image of a person," from Middle French effigie (13th century), from Latin effigies, "copy" or "imitation of something, a likeness"; from or related to effingere, "to mold, to fashion, to portray"; from ex-, "out" + fingere, "to form, to shape".
1. Not bright, clear, or loud.
2. Done feebly and without conviction.
3. Dizzy or weak, as if about to become unconscious.
4. Etymology: "lacking in courage", now mostly in faint-hearted (mid-15th century), from Old French feint, "soft, weak, sluggish"; the past participle verb form of feindre, "hesitate, falter, be indolent, show weakness, avoid one's duty by pretending".

Don't confuse the spelling of faint and feint, which have similar sounds.

Faint, the more frequent in usage of the two words, can be used as an adjective meaning "dizzy, weak" or "slight"; such as, in "to feel faint, a faint smell, a faint chance"; or as a noun or verb referring to a sudden loss of consciousness.

Feint is a noun or verb referring to "a deceptive action in a sport" or "in combat".

feign (verb), feigns; feigned; feigning
1. To pretend to have a particular feeling.
2. To make believe with the intent to deceive or to make a pretence of doing something.
3. Etymology: from Old French feign-, stem of feindre, "to pretend, to represent, to imitate, to shirk"; from Latin fingere, "to touch, to handle; to devise; to fabricate, to alter, to change"; and "to form, to fashion, to shape".
To pretend to be sick.
© ALL rights are reserved.

To simulate or to misrepresent the truth.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

To have a false appearance that something is wrong.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

feigned (adjective), more feigned, most feigned
feignedly (adverb), more feignedly, most feignedly
feignedness (s) (noun) (no plural)
feint (verb), feints; feinted; feinting
1. To pretend to make a movement; especially, to trick an opponent in a sport or a fight.
2. A deceptive action made to disguise what is really intended.
3. A mock attack by a military force which is intended to draw the enemy's attention away from the real objective.
4. Etymology: from French feinte, "a feint, a sham"; an abstract noun from Old French feint, (13th century) "false, deceitful"; originally the past participle verb form of feindre.
1. Novels and stories that describe imaginary people and events.
2. A novel, story, or other work of fiction.
3. Something that is untrue and has been made up to deceive people: "The account of that incident was pure fiction."
4. The act of pretending or inventing something: "They were living the fiction that their marriage had become.
5. Something that is assumed in law to be true regardless of whether or not it is true.
6. Etymology: from about 1398, "something invented", from Latin fictionem (nominative case, fictio), "a fashioning" or "feigning"; from fingere, "to shape, to form, to devise, to feign", originally "to knead, to form out of clay".
fictitious (adjective), more fictitious, most fictitious
1. Relating to not being true or genuine, and intended to deceive or used for tricking people.
2. Pertaining to being invented by someone's imagination; especially, as part of a work of fiction.
3. Referring to not being genuinely believed or felt; a sham: Margaret greeted her brother with fictitious enthusiasm.
4. Etymology: as a type of literature, about 1599: fictitious is from about 1615; from Middle Latin fictitus, a misspelling of Latin ficticius, "artificial, counterfeit"; from fictus, past participle of fingere.
1. Referring to or relating to, or characterized by fiction; imaginary.
2. In a false manner and intended to mislead others.

Inter-related cross references, directly or indirectly, involving word units dealing with "form, shape, appearance": eido-; form-; icono-; ideo-; imag-; morpho-; -oid; typo-.