figment

English

WOTD – 8 July 2010

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɡ.mənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡmənt

Noun

figment (plural figments)

1. 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.

2. (obsolete) An item which has been crafted.

Usage notes

• Often used in the form "a figment of one's imagination".

Related terms

• feign
• fiction
• fictional
• fictitious

Translations

fabrication, fantasy, invention

• Armenian: ֆիկցիա (hy) (fikcʻia)
• Bulgarian: измислица (bg) f (izmislica)
• Dutch: verzinsel (nl) n, droom (nl) m, bedenksel (nl) n,
• Finnish: kuvitelma (fi)
• French: chimère (fr), illusion (fr), vaticination (fr), vue de l’esprit (fr), déconnage (fr) (colloquial), fiction (fr), utopie (fr), divagation (fr), rêve (fr), rêvasserie (fr), fantasmagorie (fr), roman (fr)
• German: Hirngespinst (de) n, Fantasieprodukt (de) n, Erfindung (de) f
• Greek: αποκύημα (el) (apokýima)

  Ancient: πλάσμα n (plásma)

• Hungarian: (in a possessive structure with képzelet‌/‌fantázia (“imagination”)) szülemény (hu), szülött (hu), (on its own) kitaláció (hu), koholmány (hu)
• Norwegian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: вы́думка (ru) f (výdumka), вы́мысел (ru) m (výmysel), до́мысел (ru) m (dómysel), ложь (ru) f (ložʹ), (literary) фи́кция (ru) f (fíkcija), плод фантазии m (plod fantazii)
• Spanish: quimera (es), espejismo (es), ensueño (es), ficción (es)
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can

References

• “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.