English Language & Usage Asked on April 10, 2021
Are there any recurring uses of the word “figment” other than in the expression “figment of the imagination”?
Certainly. "Figment" can be used as these examples show:
Social figments, feints, and formalism.
~ Mrs. Browning.It carried rather an appearance of figment and invention . . . than of truth and reality. ~Woodward.
As you said, it's commonly used in "figment of imagination", but its definition—
fabrication, fantasy, invention; something fictitious
—means it can be used everywhere really, to signify "anything fictitious."
Correct answer by Thursagen on April 10, 2021
From http://vocabulary-vocabulary.com/dictionary/figment.php
It's most commonly used as a critique, in the phrase "figment of your imagination." To use figment in a different context, without that common phrase, is a good way of intellectualizing it. Biographical and historical figments are invented or feigned stories.
Was that a figment, or did I just see my estranged brother. (chimera, illusion)
Either that was a very real-to-life figment, or I just saw a bald eagle flying outside our window. (fabrication, illusion)
Answered by shinynewbike on April 10, 2021
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