1. A form or shape. 2. A person representing the essential aspects of a particular role ( e.g., relating to one's male boss as a father f. or to one's female teacher as a mother f.). 3. A form, shape, outline, or representation of an object or person. [L. figura, fr fingo, to shape, fashion]
- authority f. a real or projected person in a position of power; one's parents, police, and boss are authority figures to some people; during the transference phase of psychoanalysis, the psychoanalyst becomes an authority f..
- flame f. a small area of dermal or subcutaneous necrosis with intense eosinophil staining of collagen bundles; seen in the lesions of eosinophilic cellulitis.
- fortification figures SYN: fortification spectrum.
- mitotic f. the microscopic appearance of a cell undergoing mitosis; a cell of which the chromosomes are visible by the light microscope.
- myelin f. a rolled-up or scroll-like arrangement of a lipid bilayer within a cell, superficially resembling the myelin sheath of nerves; observed with the electron microscope in the cytoplasm or as inclusion in mitochondria and autophagic vacuoles where they may represent artifacts of lipid fixation. SYN: myelin body.
- Purkinje figures shadows of the retinal vessels, seen as dark lines on a reddish field when a light enters the eye through the sclera and not the pupil.
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1) bodily shape or form esp. of a person <a slender \figure>
2 a) the graphic representation of a form esp. of a person
b) a diagram or pictorial illustration of textual matter
3) a person who is representative of or serves as a psychological substitute for someone or something else see FATHER FIGURE
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fig·ure (figґyər) [L. figura, from fingere to shape or form] 1. an object of a particular form. 2. a number, or numeral.Medical dictionary. 2011.