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What does it mean figuratively? Types of figurative meanings of a word

The main means of giving a word imagery is the use of it figuratively. The play of direct and figurative meaning gives rise to both aesthetic and expressive effects of a literary text, making this text figurative and expressive.

Based on the nominative (nominal) function of a word and its connection with the subject in the process of cognition of reality, a distinction is made between direct (basic, main, primary, initial) and figurative (derived, secondary, indirect) meanings.

In the derivative meaning, the main, direct meaning and the new, indirect meaning, which appeared as a result of the transfer of the name from one object to another, are combined and coexist. If the word is in direct meaning directly (directly) indicates this or that object, action, property, etc., naming them, then the words in portable meaning, an object is no longer named directly, but through certain comparisons and associations that arise in the minds of native speakers.

AIR– 1) ‘adj. To air (air jet)’;

2) ‘light, weightless ( airy dress)’.

The appearance of figurative meanings in a word makes it possible to save the lexical means of the language without endlessly expanding the vocabulary to denote new phenomena and concepts. If there are some common features between two objects, the name from one, already known, is transferred to another object, newly created, invented or known, which did not have a name before:

DIM– 1) ‘opaque, cloudy ( dim glass)’;

2) ‘matte, not shiny ( dull hairspray, dull hair)’;

3) ‘weak, not bright ( dim light, dull colors)’;

4) ‘lifeless, expressionless ( dull look, dull style)’.

D.N. Shmelev believes that the direct, basic meaning is the one that is not determined by the context (most determined paradigmatically and least syntagmatically):

ROAD– 1) ‘a route of communication, a strip of land intended for movement’;

2) ‘travel, trip’;

3) ‘route’;

4) ‘means achievements of some kind. goals'.

All secondary, figurative meanings depend on the context, on compatibility with other words: to pack('trip'), direct road to success, road to Moscow.

Historically, the relationship between direct, primary and figurative, secondary meaning may change. Thus, in modern Russian the primary meanings for words have not been preserved consume(‘eat, eat’), dense('dormant'), vale('valley'). Word thirst in our time, it has the main direct meaning of ‘need to drink’ and figurative ‘strong, passionate desire’, but ancient Russian texts indicate the primacy of the second, more abstract meaning, since the adjective is often used next to it water.

Paths for transferring values

The transfer of meaning can be carried out in two main ways: metaphorical and metonymic.

Metaphor- this is the transfer of names based on the similarity of features and concepts (metaphor - unexpressed comparison): pin stars; what comb won't you comb your head?

Signs of metaphorical transfer:

by color similarity ( gold leaves);
by similarity of shape ( ring boulevards);
by similarity of object location ( nose boats, sleeve rivers);
by similarity of actions ( rain drums, wrinkles plow face);
by similarity of sensations, emotional associations ( gold character, velvet voice);
by similarity of functions ( electric candle in the lamp extinguish/ignite light, wipers in car).

This classification is quite arbitrary. The proof is a transfer based on several criteria: leg chair(form, place); ladle excavator(function, form).

There are other classifications. For example, prof. Galina Al-dr. Cherkasova considers metaphorical transfer in connection with the category of animateness/inanimateness:

the action of an inanimate object is transferred to another inanimate object ( fireplace– ‘room stove’ and ‘electric heating device’; wing– ‘birds’, ‘airplane blade, mill’, ‘side extension’);
animate - also on an animate object, but of a different group ( bear, snake);
inanimate - to animate ( she blossomed );
animate - to inanimate ( guard– ‘guard ship’).

The main trends in metaphorical transfer: figurative meanings appear in words that are socially significant in given time. During the Great Patriotic War everyday words were used as metaphors to define military concepts: comb forest, get into boiler . Subsequently, on the contrary, military terms were transferred to other concepts: front work, take on weapons . Sports vocabulary gives many figurative meanings: finish, start, knight's move. With the development of astronautics, metaphors appeared finest hour, escape velocity, dock. Currently big number metaphors associated with the computer sphere: mouse, archive, maternal pay etc.

There are models of metaphorical transfer in language: certain groups of words form certain metaphors.

professional characteristics of a person ( artist, craftsman, philosopher, shoemaker, clown, chemist);
names associated with the disease ( ulcer, plague, cholera, delirium);
names of natural phenomena when they are transferred to human life ( spring life, hail tears);
names of household items ( rag, mattress etc.);
transfer of names of animal actions to humans ( bark, moo).

Metonymy(Greek ‘renaming’) is a transfer of name that is based on the contiguity of the characteristics of two or more concepts: paper– ‘document’.

Types of metonymic transfer:

transfer along spatial contiguity ( audience- 'People', Class– ‘children’): (a) transfer of the name containing to the content ( all village came out city I was all worried embankment, ate plate, read Pushkin ); (b) the name of the material from which the item is made is transferred to the item ( To go to silks, V gold; V scarlet And gold clad woods; dancing gold );
transfer by adjacency O th – transferring the name of the action to the result ( dictation, essay, cookies, jam, embroidery);
synecdoche(a) transferring the name of a part of a whole to a whole ( one hundred goals livestock; behind him eye Yes eye needed; he's seven mouths feeds; he is mine right hand ; heart heart gives the news) – often found in proverbs; (b) whole to part ( jasmine– ‘bush’ and ‘flowers’; plum– ‘tree’ and ‘fruit’.

This classification does not cover the entire variety of metonymic transfers that exist in the language.

Sometimes when transferring, the grammatical features of a word are used, for example, plural. number: workers hands, relax on yugas, To go to silks . It is believed that the basis of metonymic transfer is nouns.

In addition to common language figurative values, in language fiction portable ones are also observed use words that are characteristic of the work of a particular writer and are one of the means of artistic representation. For example, from L. Tolstoy: fair And Kind sky("War and Peace"); at A.P. Chekhov: crumbly ("The Last Mohican") cozy lady(“From the Memoirs of an Idealist”), faded aunties("Hopeless"); in the works of K.G. Paustovsky: shy sky(“Mikhailovskaya Grove”), sleepy dawn("Third Date") molten noon("Romantics") sleepy day("Sea Habit") white-blooded bulb(“Book of Wanderings”); from V. Nabokov: cloudy tense day(“Luzhin’s Defense”), etc.

Like metaphor, metonymy can be individually authored - contextual, i.e. conditioned by the contextual use of the word, it does not exist outside of this context: – You’re so stupid, brother! - she said reproachfully handset (E. Meek); Redheads trousers sigh and think(A.P. Chekhov); Short fur coats, sheepskin coats crowded...(M. Sholokhov).

Such figurative meanings, as a rule, are not reflected in dictionary interpretations. Dictionaries reflect only regular, productive, generally accepted hyphens fixed by language practice, which continue to arise, playing a large role in enriching the lexical reserves of the language.

Introduction

The richness and diversity of the vocabulary of the Russian language is noted not only by specialists - learned linguists, but also by writers and poets. One of the factors in the richness of our language is the polysemy of most words. This allows them to be used not in one specific context, but in several, sometimes completely different ones.

The meanings of polysemantic words can be direct and figurative. Figurative meanings are involved in the creation of vivid figurative texts. They make literary language richer and more intense.

Purpose of the work: to find examples of the use of words with direct and figurative meanings in the text by M. Sholokhov “Quiet Don”.

Job objectives:

· Determine which values are considered direct and which are figurative;
· Find examples of words with direct and figurative meanings in M. Sholokhov’s text “Quiet Don”.

The work consists of two chapters. The first chapter presents theoretical information on the problem of direct and figurative meanings of words. The second chapter is a list of examples illustrating words used in their literal and figurative meaning.

Direct and figurative meaning words in Russian

Words in Russian have two types of meanings: the main, direct meaning, and the non-basic, figurative meaning.

The direct meaning of the word is “a direct connection between a sound complex and a concept, a direct nomination” Modern Russian literary language / Ed. P. Lekanta - M.: Higher. school, 1988. - pp. 9-11..

The figurative meaning is secondary; it arises on the basis of associative connections between concepts. The presence of similarities between objects is a prerequisite for the fact that the name of one object begins to be used to name another object; thus, a new, figurative meaning of the word arises.

The use of words in a figurative meaning is a generally recognized method of expressive speech. The main types of figurative meaning are the techniques of metaphor and metonymy.

Metaphor is “the transfer of a name from one object to another based on any similarity of their characteristics” Rosenthal D.E., Golub I.B., Telenkova M.A. Modern Russian language. - M.: International relationships, 1995. - 560 pp.

The similarity of objects receiving the same name can manifest itself in different ways: they can be similar in shape (ring 1 on the hand - smoke ring 2); by color (gold medallion - golden curls); by function (fireplace - indoor stove and fireplace - electric device for heating the room).

The similarity in the location of two objects in relation to something (the tail of an animal - the tail of a comet), in their assessment (clear day - clear style), in the impression they make (black blanket - black thoughts) also often serves as the basis for naming different things in one word phenomena. Similarities are also possible based on other characteristics: green strawberries - green youth (the unifying characteristic is immaturity); fast running - fast mind (common feature - intensity); the mountains stretch - the days stretch (associative connection - length in time and space).

Metaphorization of meanings often occurs as a result of the transfer of qualities, properties, actions of inanimate objects to animate ones: iron nerves, golden hands, an empty head, and vice versa: gentle rays, the roar of a waterfall, the talk of a stream.

It often happens that the main, original meaning of a word is metaphorically reinterpreted on the basis of the convergence of objects according to different signs: gray-haired old man - gray-haired antiquity - gray-haired fog; black blanket - black 2 thoughts - black ingratitude - black Saturday - black box (on an airplane).

Metaphors that expand the polysemanticism of words are fundamentally different from poetic, individually authored metaphors. The first are linguistic in nature, they are frequent, reproducible, anonymous. Linguistic metaphors, which served as a source for the emergence of a new meaning for the word, are mostly non-figurative, which is why they are called “dry”, “dead”: the elbow of a pipe, the bow of a boat, the tail of a train. But there can also be transfers of meaning in which the imagery is partially preserved: a blooming girl, a steely will. However, the expressiveness of such metaphors is significantly inferior to the expression of individual poetic images.

Dry metaphors that give rise to new meanings of words are used in any style of speech (scientific: eyeball, root of a word; official business: a store, alarm signal); linguistic figurative metaphors tend to expressive speech, their use in an official business style is excluded; individual author's metaphors are property artistic speech, they are created by masters of words.

Metonymy is “the transfer of a name from one object to another based on their contiguity.”

Thus, it is metonymic to transfer the name of the material to the product from which it is made (gold, silver - Athletes brought gold and silver from the Olympics); names of the place - to the groups of people who are there (audience - Audience listens carefully to the lecturer); the names of the dishes - based on their contents (porcelain dish - delicious dish); names of the action - on its result (doing embroidery - beautiful embroidery); names of the action - to the place of action or those who perform it (crossing the mountains - underground transition); the name of the item - to its owner (tenor - young tenor); the name of the author - on his works (Shakespeare - put Shakespeare) etc.

Like metaphor, metonymy can be not only linguistic, but also individually authored.

Synecdoche is “the transfer of the name of a whole to its part, and vice versa” Rosenthal D.E., Golub I.B., Telenkova M.A. Modern Russian language. - M.: International Relations, 1995. - 560 pp. For example, a pear is a fruit tree and a pear is the fruit of this tree.

Transfers of meaning in such expressions as, for example, the feeling of an elbow, the right hand, are based on synecdoche.

word polysemous metaphor expressiveness

AIR– 1) ‘adj. To air (air jet)’;

2) ‘light, weightless ( airy dress)’.

DIM– 1) ‘opaque, cloudy ( dim glass)’;

2) ‘matte, not shiny ( dull hairspray, dull hair)’;

3) ‘weak, not bright ( dim light, dull colors)’;

4) ‘lifeless, expressionless ( dull look, dull style)’.

D.N. Shmelev believes that the direct, basic meaning is the one that is not determined by the context (most determined paradigmatically and least syntagmatically):

ROAD– 1) ‘a route of communication, a strip of land intended for movement’;

2) ‘travel, trip’;

3) ‘route’;

4) ‘means of achieving something. goals'.

All secondary, figurative meanings depend on the context, on compatibility with other words: to pack('trip'), direct road to success, road to Moscow.

Paths for transferring values

The transfer of meaning can be carried out in two main ways: metaphorical and metonymic.

Metaphor- this is the transfer of names based on the similarity of features and concepts (metaphor - unexpressed comparison): pin stars; what comb won't you comb your head?

Signs of metaphorical transfer:

by color similarity ( gold leaves);
by similarity of shape ( ring boulevards);
by similarity of object location ( nose boats, sleeve rivers);
by similarity of actions ( rain drums, wrinkles plow face);
by similarity of sensations, emotional associations ( gold character, velvet voice);
by similarity of functions ( electric candle in the lamp extinguish/ignite light, wipers in car).

This classification is quite arbitrary. The proof is a transfer based on several criteria: leg chair(form, place); ladle excavator(function, form).

There are other classifications. For example, prof. Galina Al-dr. Cherkasova considers metaphorical transfer in connection with the category of animateness/inanimateness:

the action of an inanimate object is transferred to another inanimate object ( fireplace– ‘room stove’ and ‘electric heating device’; wing– ‘birds’, ‘airplane blade, mill’, ‘side extension’);
animate - also on an animate object, but of a different group ( bear, snake);
inanimate - to animate ( she blossomed );
animate - to inanimate ( guard– ‘guard ship’).

The main trends in metaphorical transfer: figurative meanings appear in words that are socially significant at a given time. During the Great Patriotic War, everyday words were used as metaphors to define military concepts: comb forest, get into boiler . Subsequently, on the contrary, military terms were transferred to other concepts: front work, take on weapons . Sports vocabulary gives many figurative meanings: finish, start, knight's move. With the development of astronautics, metaphors appeared finest hour, escape velocity, dock. Currently, a large number of metaphors are associated with the computer sphere: mouse, archive, maternal pay etc.

There are models of metaphorical transfer in language: certain groups of words form certain metaphors.

professional characteristics of a person ( artist, craftsman, philosopher, shoemaker, clown, chemist);
names associated with the disease ( ulcer, plague, cholera, delirium);
names of natural phenomena when they are transferred to human life ( spring life, hail tears);
names of household items ( rag, mattress etc.);
transfer of names of animal actions to humans ( bark, moo).

Metonymy(Greek ‘renaming’) is a transfer of name that is based on the contiguity of the characteristics of two or more concepts: paper– ‘document’.

Types of metonymic transfer:

transfer along spatial contiguity ( audience- 'People', Class– ‘children’): (a) transfer of the name containing to the content ( all village came out city I was all worried embankment, ate plate, read Pushkin ); (b) the name of the material from which the item is made is transferred to the item ( To go to silks, V gold; V scarlet And gold clad woods; dancing gold );
transfer by adjacency O th – transferring the name of the action to the result ( dictation, essay, cookies, jam, embroidery);
synecdoche(a) transferring the name of a part of a whole to a whole ( one hundred goals livestock; behind him eye Yes eye needed; he's seven mouths feeds; he is mine right hand; heart heart gives the news) – often found in proverbs; (b) whole to part ( jasmine– ‘bush’ and ‘flowers’; plum– ‘tree’ and ‘fruit’.

This classification does not cover the entire variety of metonymic transfers that exist in the language.

In addition to common language figurative values, in the language of fiction there are also figurative use words that are characteristic of the work of a particular writer and are one of the means of artistic representation. For example, from L. Tolstoy: fair And Kind sky("War and Peace"); at A.P. Chekhov: crumbly ("The Last Mohican") cozy lady(“From the Memoirs of an Idealist”), faded aunties("Hopeless"); in the works of K.G. Paustovsky: shy sky(“Mikhailovskaya Grove”), sleepy dawn("Third Date") molten noon("Romantics") sleepy day("Sea Habit") white-blooded bulb(“Book of Wanderings”); from V. Nabokov: cloudy tense day(“Luzhin’s Defense”), etc.

Words, phrases, phrases and sentences - all this and much more is inherent in the concept of “language”. How much is hidden in it, and how little we actually know about language! We spend every day and even every minute next to him - whether we say our thoughts out loud or conduct an internal dialogue, read or listen to the radio... Language, our speech is a real art, and it should be beautiful. And its beauty must be genuine. What helps in finding the true beauty of language and speech?

The direct and figurative meaning of words is what enriches our language, develops it and transforms it. How does this happen? Let's understand this endless process when, as they say, words grow from words.

First of all, you should understand what the direct and figurative meaning of the word is, and what main types they are divided into. Each word can have one or a number of meanings. Words with one meaning are called unambiguous words. In the Russian language there are significantly fewer of them than words with many different meanings. Examples include words such as computer, ash, satin, sleeve. A word that can be used in several meanings, including figuratively, is a polysemantic word, examples: house can be used to mean a building, a room for people to live, a family way of life, etc.; the sky is the air space above the earth, as well as the location of visible luminaries, or divine power, conduction.

With polysemy, a distinction is made between the literal and figurative meaning of a word. The first meaning of the word, its basis, is the direct meaning of the word. By the way, the word “straight” in this context is figurative in nature, i.e. the main meaning of the word is “something even, without bends” – is transferred to another object or phenomenon with the meaning “literal, expressed unambiguously.” So we don’t have to go far - we just need to be more careful and observant in what words we use, when and how.

From the above example it already becomes clear that a figurative meaning is a secondary meaning of a word that arose when the literal meaning of the word was transferred to another object. Depending on what feature of the object served as the reason for the transfer of meaning, there are different types of figurative meaning such as metonymy, metaphor, synecdoche.

The literal and figurative meaning of a word can resonate with each other based on similarity - this is a metaphor. For example:

ice water – ice hands (by attribute);

poisonous mushroom – poisonous character (by attribute);

star in the sky - star in hand (by location);

chocolate candy – chocolate tan (based on color).

Metonymy is the selection of some property in a phenomenon or object, which by its nature can replace the others. For example:

gold jewelry - she has gold in her ears;

porcelain dishes - there was porcelain on the shelves;

headache - my headache went away.

And finally, synecdoche is a type of metonymy when one word is replaced by another on the basis of a constant, really existing relationship of part to whole and vice versa. For example:

He is a real head (meaning very smart, the head is the part of the body in which the brain is located).

The entire village took his side - every resident, i.e. the “village” as a whole, which replaces its part.

What can we say in conclusion? Only one thing: if you know the direct and figurative meaning of a word, you will be able not only to use certain words correctly, but also enrich your speech, and learn to beautifully convey your thoughts and feelings, and maybe one day you will come up with your own metaphor or metonymy... Who knows?

What is the literal and figurative meaning of the word

The plurality of meanings of a word is an aspect of linguistics and linguistics that attracts the close attention of researchers, since every language is a mobile and constantly changing system. Every day new words appear in it, as well as new meanings of words already known. For their correct use in speech, it is necessary to monitor the processes of formation of new semantic shades in the Russian language.

Ambiguous words

These are lexical units that have two or more meanings. One of them is direct, and all the others are figurative.

It is important to note what place ambiguous words occupy in the Russian language. Direct and figurative meanings are one of the main aspects of the study of linguistics, since the phenomenon of polysemy covers more than 40% of the vocabulary of the Russian language. This happens because not a single language in the world is capable of giving its specific designation to each specific object and concept. In this regard, there is a divergence in the meanings of one word into several others. This is a natural process that occurs under the influence of factors such as people’s associative thinking, metaphor and metonymy.

Aspects of polysemy: relationships of meaning

Polysemy implies a certain system of meanings of a word. How does this system arise? How do such two components as the literal and figurative meaning of a word appear? First of all, any lexical unit is formed in a language with the formation of a new concept or phenomenon. Then, as a result of certain linguistic processes, additional meanings appear, which are called figurative. The main influence on the formation of new meanings is exerted by the specific context in which the word is located. Many researchers note that polysemy is often impossible outside the linguistic context.

Words with direct and figurative meanings become so by reference to context, and their use depends on the choice of meaning in each specific situation.

Aspects of polysemy: semantic relations

It is very important to distinguish between concepts such as polysemy and homonymy. Polysemy is polysemy, a system of meanings put into the same word and connected with each other. Homonymy is a linguistic phenomenon that covers words that are identical in form (spelling) and sound design (pronunciation). Moreover, such lexical units are not related in meaning and do not have a common origin from one concept or phenomenon.

The direct and figurative meaning of a word in the light of semantic relationships between the various meanings invested in a particular word are the object of study by many scientists. The difficulty in studying this group of lexical units is that it is often difficult to find a common original meaning for polysemantic words. It is also difficult to separate completely unrelated meanings that have many common features, but at the same time they are only examples of homonymy.

Aspects of polysemy: categorical connection

Of particular importance for scientists in the aspect of researching the topic “Direct and figurative meaning of a word” is the explanation of polysemy from the point of view of cognitive categoricality. This theory suggests that the language system is an extremely flexible structure that can change in connection with the acquisition of new concepts about a phenomenon or object in the human mind.

Many researchers are inclined to believe that polysemy appears and develops according to certain laws, and is not caused by spontaneous and unsystematic processes in language. All meanings of a word are initially in the human mind, and are also a priori embedded in the structure of language. This theory already affects not only aspects of linguistics, but also psycholinguistics.

Characteristics of direct value

All people have an intuitive idea of what the literal and figurative meaning of a word is. If we speak in the language of ordinary people, the direct meaning is the most common meaning that is put into a word; it can be used in any context, directly pointing to a specific concept. In dictionaries, the direct meaning always comes first. Below the numbers are figurative meanings.

All lexical units, as mentioned above, can be divided into single-valued and polysemous. Unambiguous words are those that have only a direct meaning. This group includes terms, words with a narrow subject-matter, new, not yet very common words, proper names. Perhaps, under the influence of the development processes of the language system, words of these categories may acquire additional meanings. In other words, lexical units representing these groups will not necessarily always be unambiguous.

Characteristics of figurative meaning

This topic will definitely be chosen by any Russian language teacher at school for certification. “The direct and figurative meaning of a word” is a section that occupies a very important place in the structure of the study of Russian speech, so it is worth talking about it in more detail.

Let's consider the figurative meaning of lexical units. The additional meaning of a word that appears as a result of indirect or direct nomination is called figurative. All additional meanings are related to the main meaning metonymically, metaphorically or associatively. The figurative meanings are characterized by blurred meanings and boundaries of use. It all depends on the context and style of speech in which the additional meaning is used.

Particularly interesting are cases when a figurative meaning takes the place of the main one, displacing it from use. An example is the word “bulda”, which originally meant a heavy hammer, and now a stupid, narrow-minded person.

Metaphor as a way of transferring meaning

Scientists highlight different types figurative meanings of words depending on the method of their formation. The first of these is metaphor. The main meaning can be transferred by similarity of features.

Thus, they distinguish similarities in shape, color, size, actions, feelings and emotional state. Naturally, this classification is conditional, since similar concepts can be metaphorically divided into the previously listed categories.

This classification is not the only possible one. Other researchers distinguish metaphorical transfer by similarity depending on the animation of the object. Thus, the transfer of the properties of an animate object to an inanimate one, and vice versa, is described; animate - to animate, inanimate - to inanimate.

There are also certain patterns in which metaphorical transfer occurs. Most often, this phenomenon refers to household objects (a rag as a tool for cleaning the floor and a rag as a weak-willed, weak-willed person), professions (a clown as a circus performer and a clown as someone who behaves stupidly, trying to seem like the life of the party), sounds characteristic of animals (mooing like the sound a cow makes, and like the slurred speech of a person), diseases (an ulcer as a disease and as satire and evil irony in human behavior).

Metonymy as a way of transferring meaning

Another aspect important for studying the topic “Direct and figurative meaning of a word” is metonymic transfer by contiguity. It represents a kind of substitution of concepts depending on the meanings inherent in them. For example, documents are often called papers, a group of children at school is called a class, etc.

The reasons for such a transfer of value may be as follows. Firstly, this is done for the convenience of the speaker, who seeks to shorten his speech as much as possible. Secondly, the use of such metonymic constructions in speech may be unconscious, because in Russian the expression “eat a bowl of soup” implies figurative sense, which is realized using metonymy.

Using words figuratively

During practical classes in Russian, any teacher will certainly require examples to be given for the section being studied. “Polysemantic words: direct and figurative meanings” is a topic that is replete with visual illustrations.

Let's take the word "burdock". The direct meaning of this concept is a plant with large leaves. This word can also be used in relation to a person in the meaning of “narrow-minded”, “stupid”, “simp”. This example– the classic use of metaphor to convey meaning. Adjacency transfer can also be easily illustrated with the phrase “drink a glass of water.” Naturally, we drink not the glass itself, but its contents.

So, the topic of figurative meanings is intuitively clear to everyone. It is only important to understand how the transformation of the direct meaning of the word occurs.

Direct and figurative meaning of the word. What examples can you give?

The direct meaning of the word strictly correlates with a certain thing, attribute, action, quality, etc. A word can have a figurative meaning based on points of contact, similarity with another object in form, function, color, purpose, etc.

Examples of the meaning of words:

table (furniture) - address table, table No. 9 (diet);

black color - back door (auxiliary), black thoughts (dreary);

bright room - bright mind, bright head;

dirty rag - dirty thoughts;

cold wind - cold heart;

golden cross - golden hands, golden heart;

heavy burden - heavy look;

heart valve - heart valve;

gray mouse - gray man.

Zolotynka

A large number of words and figures of speech in the Russian language can be used both in a literal and figurative (figurative) sense.

The direct meaning usually completely coincides with the original meaning; the narrator means exactly what he says.

We use words in a figurative meaning in order to give our speech figurativeness, to especially emphasize some quality or action.

The examples below will help you “feel the difference”:

The language is in constant development, those words that a few decades ago were used only in a literal meaning can begin to be used in a figurative sense - birdhouse - starling house, birdhouse - traffic police post, zebra - animal, zebra - pedestrian crossing.

Nelli4ka

Direct is the primary meaning of a word, figurative is secondary. Let me give you examples:

Gold earrings - direct meaning.

My husband's gold hands - figurative meaning.

Rain worm- direct.

Book worm- portable.

Silver ring - straight.

Silver century - figurative.

The sky is burning star- direct.

Star screen - portable.

Icy sculpture - straight.

Icy smile - figurative.

Sugar buns - straight.

Mouth sugar- portable.

Woolen blanket- direct.

Winter covered everything around with snow blanket- portable.

Mink fur coat- direct.

Herring under fur coat- portable.

Marble plate - straight.

Marble cupcake - portable.

Black suit - straight.

Leave on black day - portable.

Any word in Russian initially has one or more direct meanings. That is, the word Key can mean something like what we use to close the lock on front door and can mean water gushing out of the ground. In both cases this is the direct meaning polysemantic word. But almost every word in the Russian language can also be given a figurative meaning. For example in the expression key to all doors, not a word key, not a word doors are not used in their direct meaning. The key here is the possibility of solving the problem, and the doors are this very problem. The figurative meaning of words is often used by poets, for example in Pushkin’s famous poem, every word has a figurative meaning:

Or here is the famous young man from Bryusov, who had a burning gaze, of course, burning in a figurative sense.

There are a lot of words with direct and figurative meanings in the Russian language. And as a rule, all these meanings are reflected in dictionaries. It is very useful to look there from time to time.

Examples of words and phrases with figurative meaning:

to step on a rake, in a figurative sense - to get a negative experience.
prick up your ears - become very attentive,
reel in fishing rods - leave, and not necessarily from fishing,
a heart of stone is an insensitive person,
sour face - dissatisfied facial expression.
work hard - work hard
sharp tongue - the ability to formulate accurate, accurate and even caustic information.

Now, I remember.

Moreljuba

But in fact, a very interesting fact is that words can have not only a direct meaning, but also a figurative one.

If we talk about the direct meaning, then in the text we mean the lexical meaning specific word. But figurative meaning means transferring the meaning of the lexical original as a consequence of comparison

And here are some examples:

Eugenie001

In Russian, words can have both direct and figurative meanings. Under direct meaning understand words naming an object of reality or its property. Moreover, the meaning of such words does not depend on the context; we immediately imagine what they mean. For example:

Based on the direct meaning of a word, additional lexical meanings may arise, which are called portable. The figurative meaning is based on the similarity of objects or phenomena in appearance, properties or actions performed.

Compare: “stone house” and “stone face”. In the phrase “stone house”, the adjective “stone” is used in the literal meaning (solid, motionless, strong), and in the phrase “stone face”, the same adjective is used in a figurative meaning (insensitive, unkind, harsh).

Here are some examples of the literal and figurative meaning of words:

Many are built on the basis of figurative meaning. stylistic figures or literary tropes(metonymy, personification, metaphor, synecdoche, allegory, epithet, hyperbole).

Sayan Mountains

Examples of words and expressions with figurative meaning:

As we see, words acquire a figurative meaning when they are used together with certain words (which do not have such a quality in the literal sense). For example, nerves cannot literally be made of iron, so this is a figurative meaning, but iron ore it just consists of iron (the phrase has a direct meaning).

virgin virginia

Sweet tea - sweet kitty, sweet music.

Crying in pain - the prison is crying (for someone).

Soft plasticine - soft light, soft heart.

Sunny day - sunny soul, sunny smile.

Plastic bag - social package (vacation, sick leave).

Wolverine skin is a sellable skin.

Garden flowers are flowers of life (about children).

Green fruits - green generation.

Woodpecker (bird) - woodpecker (informer).

To poison with pills is to poison with moral violence.

Marlena

The direct meaning of a word is when the word is used in its original sense. For example: sweet porridge.

The figurative meaning of a word is when the word is used not in literally, for example sweet deception.

I need to give examples of words with a figurative meaning... help?

give examples please

Diana Klimova

Portable (indirect) meanings of words are those meanings that arise as a result of the conscious transfer of a name from one phenomenon of reality to another on the basis of similarity, commonality of their characteristics, functions, etc.

Thus, the word table is used in several figurative meanings: 1. A piece of special equipment or a part of a cold-form machine (operating table, raise the machine table); 2. Meals, food (rent a room with a table); 3. A department in an institution in charge of a special range of cases (help desk).

The word black has the following figurative meanings: 1. Dark, as opposed to something lighter, called white (black bread); 2. Has taken on a dark color, darkened (black from tanning); 3. In the old days: Kurnoy (black hut); 4. Gloomy, desolate, heavy (black thoughts); 5. Criminal, malicious (black treason); 6. Not the main one, the auxiliary one (the back door in the house); 7. Physically difficult and unskilled (menial work).

The word boil has the following figurative meanings:

1. Manifest to a strong degree (work is in full swing); 2. Manifest something with force, to a strong degree (boil with indignation); 3. Move randomly (the river was boiling with fish).

As we see, when transferring meaning, words are used to name phenomena that do not serve as a constant, usual object of designation, but are brought closer to another concept by various associations that are obvious to speakers.

Figurative meanings can retain imagery (black thoughts, black betrayal). However, these figurative meanings are fixed in the language; they are given in dictionaries when interpreting words. This is how figurative meanings differ from metaphors that are created by writers.

In most cases, when transferring meanings, imagery is lost. For example: a pipe bend, a teapot spout, a carrot tail, a clock ticking. In such cases, they speak of extinct imagery in the lexical meaning of the word.

The transfer of names occurs on the basis of similarities in something between objects, characteristics, and actions. The figurative meaning of a word can be attached to an object (sign, action) and become its direct meaning: the spout of a teapot, a door handle, a table leg, the spine of a book, etc.

Anton Maslov

The direct (or basic, main) meaning of a word is a meaning that directly correlates with the phenomena of objective reality. For example, the word table has the following basic meaning: “a piece of furniture in the form of a wide horizontal board on high supports or legs.”

Figurative (indirect) meanings of words arise as a result of transferring the name from one phenomenon of reality to another on the basis of similarity, commonality of their characteristics, functions, etc. Thus, the word table has several figurative meanings: 1. A piece of special equipment or a part of a machine of a similar shape (operating table, raise the machine table). 2. Meals, food (rent a room with a table). 3. A department in an institution in charge of some special range of affairs (help desk).

Depending on on what basis and on what basis the name of one object is transferred to another, three types of transfer of word meanings are distinguished: metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche. Some linguists also distinguish transfer by similarity of functions.

A word can have one lexical meaning. Such words are called unambiguous, For example: dialogue, purple, saber, on alert, appendicitis, birch, felt-tip pen

There are several types unambiguous words

1. These include, first of all, proper names (Ivan, Petrov, Mytishchi, Vladivostok). There are a lot of them specific meaning excludes the possibility of varying the meaning, since they are names of single objects.

2. Words that have recently arisen and are not yet widely used are usually unambiguous. (briefing, grapefruit, pizza, pizzeria and so on.). This is explained by the fact that in order to develop polysemy in a word, it must be used frequently in speech, and new words cannot immediately gain universal recognition and distribution.

3. Words with a narrow subject meaning are unambiguous (binoculars, trolleybus, suitcase). Many of them denote objects of special use and therefore are rarely used in speech (beads, turquoise). This helps them maintain clarity.

4. One meaning usually distinguishes the terms: tonsillitis, gastritis, fibroids, syntax, noun.

Most Russian words have not one, but several meanings. These words are called polysemantic, they are opposed to unambiguous words. The ability of words to have multiple meanings is called polysemy. For example: word root- ambiguous. IN " Explanatory dictionary Russian language" by S. I. Ozhegov and N. Yu. Shvedova, four meanings of this word are indicated:

1. The underground part of the plant. The apple tree has taken root. 2. The inside of a tooth, hair, nail. Turn red to the roots of your hair. 3. trans. The beginning, source, basis of something. The root of evil. 4. In linguistics: basic, significant part words. Root- significant part of a word.

Direct meaning of the word- this is its main meaning. For example, adjective gold means "made of gold, composed of gold": gold coin, gold chain, gold earrings.

figurative meaning of the word- this is its secondary, non-basic meaning, which arose on the basis of the direct one. Golden autumn, golden curls- the adjective in these phrases has a different meaning - figurative (“similar to gold in color”). Golden time, golden hands- in these examples the adjective has a figurative meaning - “beautiful, happy.”

The Russian language is very rich in such transfers:

wolf skin- voracious appetite;

iron nail- iron character.

If we compare these phrases, we can see that adjectives with a figurative meaning not only tell us about some quality of a person, but evaluate it, figuratively and vividly describe it: golden character, deep mind, warm heart, cold look.

The use of words in a figurative meaning gives expressiveness and imagery to speech. Poets and writers are looking for fresh, unexpected, accurate means of conveying their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and moods. Based on the figurative meaning of words, special means of artistic representation are created: comparison, metaphor, personification, epithet and etc.

Thus, based on the figurative meaning of the word, the following are formed:

comparison(one object is compared with another). The moon is like a lantern; fog like milk;

metaphor(hidden comparison). Rowan bonfire(rowan, like a fire); bird cherry sprinkles snow(cherry bird is like snow);

personification(human properties are transferred to animals and inanimate objects). The grove dissuaded me; the cranes do not regret; the forest is silent;

epithet(figurative use of adjectives). Golden grove; birch tongue; pearl frost; dark fate.

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