Fĭg'ū-rate, a.
a. [Lat. figuratus, p. p. of figurare. See FIGURE.] 1. Of a certain determinate form or figure. Plants are all figurate and determinate, which inanimate bodies are not. Bacon.
- Figurative. [Obs.]
- (Mus.) Relating to discords; discordant; figurative.
Figurate counterpoint or descant (Mus.), that which is not simple, or in which the parts do not move together tone for tone, but in which the freer movement of one or more parts mingles passing discords with the harmony; — also called figural, figurative, and figured counterpoint or descant. — Figurate numbers (Math.), numbers, or series of numbers, formed from any arithmetical progression in which the first term is a unit and the difference a whole number, by taking the first term, and the sums of the first two, first three, first four, &c., as the successive terms of a new series, from which another may be formed in the same manner, and so on, the numbers in the resulting series being such that points representing them are capable of symmetrical arrangement in different geometrical figures, as triangles, squares, pentagons, &c. In the following example, the two lower lines are composed of figurate numbers, those in the second line being triangular, and represented thus:— ∴ ∴∴ ∴∴∴ &c. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. 1, 3, 6, 10, &c. 1, 4, 10, 20, &c.