Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "fig" []

  • Any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Ficus, especially F. carica, native to the Mediterranean region and widely cultivated for its edible multiple fruit. (noun)
  • The sweet, hollow, pear-shaped, multiple fruit of this plant, having numerous tiny seedlike fruits. (noun)
  • Any of several plants bearing similar fruit. (noun)
  • The fruit of such a plant. (noun)
  • A trivial or contemptible amount: not worth a fig; didn't care a fig. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "fig" in a sentence
  • "Consequently, all _goats_ were driven from the banks of this river; but one day, Theŏclos observed that the branches of a fig tree bent into the stream, and it immediately flashed into his mind that the Messenian word for _fig tree_ and _goat_ was the same."
  • "Paul Barr conversed with my father, laying down the law in his most superb fashion regarding the immense fortune in store for any one who would start what he called a fig farm in this country."
  • "A ripe fig is slightly soft and gives under light pressure."