figure out
Britishverb
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to calculate or reckon
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to understand
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Discover or determine, as in Let's figure out a way to help . [Early 1900s]
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Solve or decipher, as in Can you figure out this puzzle? [Early 1800s]
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.
And the deadline for them to figure out a better alternative is short: less than a year to meet the proposed implementation next spring.
From BBC • Jun. 15, 2026
It takes extensive experience for the director of national intelligence to detect the gaps and opportunities in the surrounding intelligence bureaucracy and to figure out what he or she needs to do.
From Slate • Jun. 15, 2026
It was just trying to figure out what this show was.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
“We wanted to figure out how we can solve problems for customers and restore competition to the market,” Horton says.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
I decided that I’d just take monkeys, net, and all to the house and maybe Mama and Daisy could help me figure out something.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
