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An earlier sense of effigy is "a likeness of a person shaped out of stone or other materials," so it's not surprising to learn that effigy derives, by way of Middle French, from the Latin effigies, which, in turn, comes from the verb effingere ("to form"), a combination of the prefix ex- and fingere, which means "to shape." Fingere is the common ancestor of a number of other English nouns that name things you can shape. A fiction is a story you shape with your imagination. Figments are shaped by the imagination, too; they're something you imagine or make up. A figure can be a numeral, a shape, or a picture that you shape as you draw or write.
Examples of effigy in a Sentence
Ryan Deto, Axios, 25 Mar. 2025
For example, NewsGuard claims that four out of the 10 chatbots that were evaluated regurgitated claims that members of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion burned effigies of President Trump, citing articles from the disinformation network as their sources.
—Will McCurdy, PCMAG, 8 Mar. 2025
That can be little effigies or messages of hopes or dreams.
—Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 24 Feb. 2025
As one producer put it: there is comfort in knowing which effigy to worship or pin to a dart board.
—Jake Kanter, Deadline, 6 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for effigy
Cite this Entry
“Effigy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effigy. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
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effigy
noun
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