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 now it has impacted our ability to figure out how to keep people safe.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026
Another issue: No one can figure out how to value it.
From Barron's • May 27, 2026
Yet the biggest thing to remember, economists say, is that neither the sentiment nor confidence survey is a reliable tool to figure out how much Americans are going to spend.
From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026
Here comes the Class of AI, the most AI-native group of graduates to enter the workforce—a cohort employers are already trying to figure out what to do with.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
C.C. was still trying to figure out a proper experiment to examine it.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
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.
