effigy
Americannoun
-
a representation or image, especially sculptured, as on a monument.
-
a crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule.
idioms
noun
-
a portrait of a person, esp as a monument or architectural decoration
-
a crude representation of someone, used as a focus for contempt or ridicule and often hung up or burnt in public (often in the phrases burn or hang in effigy )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of effigy
1530–40; (< Middle French ) < Latin effigia, equivalent to effig- ( ef- ef- + fig- shape, form; see figure) + -ia -y 3
Explanation
In modern usage, effigy most often refers to a likeness, such as a dummy, that is hanged, burned, or otherwise abused when protesting the despised person's actions. If you've encountered the phrase "in effigy,” it's probably been in a news report about protesters burning a stuffed figure made to look like a loathed corporate leader or head of state. Since the 18th century or longer, effigies have been destroyed in place of individuals who, as far as the angry crowd is concerned, have escaped justice. Effigy can also refer to a sculptural portrait of the deceased reclining upon a burial monument.
Vocabulary lists containing effigy
Lord of the Flies
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Language Gone Wrong: Words That Started Out as Errors
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Persepolis
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Strange, an audio engineer at Eminem’s Effigy recording studio, worked there from 2007 to 2021.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2025
The king’s image is the official Commonwealth Effigy designed by The Royal Mint in London with the king’s approval and is available for use by all British Commonwealth countries.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 4, 2023
Effigy mounds weren’t built long after their arrival.
From Washington Times • Sep. 5, 2020
Barnes and Bass improvised, ending up in front of “Tomb Effigy of Elizabeth Boott Duveneck,” a bronze statue made by her surviving husband, Frank Duveneck, in 1891.
From The New Yorker • Jan. 16, 2017
But the antic Personage, the thing I have called the Effigy, is not new but old, the oldest thing in history, the departing thing.
From War and the future: Italy, France and Britain at war by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
