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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
Ronen Bergman, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024
These include an effigy of the Brazilian being hanged from a bridge before his side’s clash against city rival Atlético Madrid in January 2023 and persistent racial abuse in a match against Valencia later that year.
—Sam Joseph and, CNN, 26 Mar. 2024
Butler has won a raft of international honors and been burned in effigy as a witch in Brazil.
—Katha Pollitt, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2024
How To Complete The Evil Spirits Quest The Evil Spirits quest asks you to locate the effigy of Morana on any map and kill a follower of Morana.
—Mike Stubbs, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
The chairwoman of the Johnson County Republican Party told the Kansas City Star in an email that the effigy had been set up as part of a booth hosted by a local martial arts school.
—Annie Gowen, Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2024
Later researchers determined that the effigy mound systems closely resemble the clan systems and spirit animals still used by Indigenous tribes, such as the Thunderbird and Water Panther.
—Frank Vaisvilas, Journal Sentinel, 15 Feb. 2024
To ward off inclement weather (like the snowstorm that canceled the parade in 2008) a snowman is burned in effigy prior to each Bockfest weekend during what's dubbed as the Precipitation Retaliation Happy Hour.
—Keith Pandolfi, The Enquirer, 1 Mar. 2024
About 20,000 mounds, effigy and conical, were built in Wisconsin, but only about 4,000 remain today because of Western development over the last 200 years.
—Frank Vaisvilas, Journal Sentinel, 15 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'effigy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Effigy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effigy. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.
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effigy
noun
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