The figurative sense plays with the meaning of the terms by linking them with an idea different from the one that usually corresponds to them.
To establish the meaning of the concept of figurative meaning we must first establish the definition of each of its parts separately.
The notion of meaning has various uses: it can be the physiological process of receiving and recognizing stimuli; of understanding or reason ; of the full significance ; or orientation in space.
The concept of figurative , meanwhile, functions as an adjective that is applied to that which uses rhetorical figures.
What is the figurative meaning
Literary resources are those that allow us to create varied images by playing with the meaning of the words and the sounds that represent them. Through these resources we can vary the orthodox or literal meaning of words to provide them with nuances that provide writing with a wide universe where their meaning is not explicit but is equivalent to a semantic value far from the true value of the lexical signifier . The figurative meaning arises by playing with the meaning of the words and relating them to an idea or image different from the one that categorically corresponds to them.
The figurative meaning replaces the literal meaning of a word to create new relationships between the subject of a sentence and its definition. In this way, if someone tells us that a place is the Bermuda Triangle of the region, it does not mean that it is called that, what it suggests to us is that strange disappearances take place there, which is a place where they usually take place. silent robberies or accidental disappearances, just as happens in the place of the same name known to everyone.
The figurative meaning is used both in literature and in everyday language.
Differences with the literal
We speak of literal meaning when we say something wanting to express exactly what the dictionary assumes that word means. Donkey: soliped animal of the equidae family .
We speak of figurative meaning when a term is used with a new meaning, which is not found in the dictionary. Donkey: person with hard understanding .
The figurative meaning in literature and everyday language
The figurative meaning is very common in literature , although its use has extended to everyday language.
Many times the figurative meaning is used to establish relationships between the personality of a human and certain iconic characteristics attributed to some animals . For example: "The midfielder played like a lion and did not give up any ball for lost" , "The Jamaican was a gazelle and won again in the one hundred meter freestyle" , "The Argentine boxer is an elephant: strong, but slow" .
Sometimes the figurative meaning does not establish a comparison , but rather represents an exaggeration of a real action . For example, if a father tells his son that if he does not listen to him he will send him to an orphanage, what he suggests is that he obey him or, otherwise, the consequences will not be pleasant for him.
Literary resources that use it
Among the literary resources, those that mainly work with the figurative sense are: metaphor (direct relationship between two objects, naming only their quality), personification (giving an animal human attitudes), simile or comparison (direct relationship between two objects, naming them). and making evident their close connection), hyperbole (relationship between two objects to give the first an exaggerated meaning), irony (expressing the opposite of the true meaning that is desired to be given to the message) and paradox (uniting two ideas that a priori appear irreconcilable but that when abstracted can express a deep and logical image).
Taking all this into account, we can conclude that the figurative meaning serves to give words a renewed air that allows us to establish new meanings or relate them to objects or subjects that at first glance are completely far from them.