Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Something invented, made up, or fabricated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Something feigned or imagined; an invention; a fiction.
  • noun In metaphysics, the opposite of a real thing; that the characters of which are arbitrary, depending on the thought of some particular person or persons.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An invention; a fiction; something feigned or imagined.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fabrication, fantasy, invention; something fictitious.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a contrived or fantastic idea

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin figmentum, from fingere, to form; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin figmentum ("anything made, a fiction"), from fingō ("make, form, feign"); see fiction, feign.

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Examples

  • Cordoba House, which he called a figment of Gingrich's imagination, and the MSNBC host pointed out that the community center will be open to all New Yorkers.

    Pam's House Blend - Front Page 2010

  • God, Jesus, Buddha, Allah or whatever you call the figment of your superstitious mind are nothing but frauds.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2010

  • A conclusion of rampant anti-Catholic bias in America, where the highest court in the land counts six Catholics among its nine members, could reasonably be described as a figment of somebody's over-hyped imagination.

    Jon O'Brien: The Empire (State Building) Strikes Back: Cutting Bill Donohue's King-Kong-Sized Ego Down to Size 2010

  • So elevation of either Pranab Mukherjee or AK Antony and their candidature can only be called figment of imagination.

    Zee News : India National 2009

  • I do not mean that all who have written or spoken on the subject had this conception of it, but I believe they who thought truly meant this; they did not suppose that in imputing righteousness there was a kind of figment, a self-deception in the mind of God; they did not mean that by an act of will He chose to consider that every act which

    Sermons Preached at Brighton Third Series Frederick W. Robertson

  • And she said no 'figment' because she could never imagine it happening

    Word Magazine - Comments Slotbadger 2010

  • Besides, as often remarked, it is a human figment which is not commanded, and is unnecessary and useless; for the holy

    The Smalcald Articles Martin Luther 1514

  • So its just a "figment" of our imagination that European settlers knowingly screwed indigenous people over.

    Progressive Bloggers 2008

  • "Facebook didn't exist—and wasn't even a figment of Mark's imagination—at the time this fraudulent contract and many of the bogus emails are dated," said Mr. Snyder.

    Fight Over Facebook Origins Escalates Geoffrey A. Fowler 2011

  • "The biased liberal media" is a figment of the imagination.

    I'm 'saddened' by 'vicious attacks' on Palin, McCain says 2009

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