figurer
to appear, to feature
verb fee-gew-REH Less Common
Origin: Latin figurare
Also means
to imagine, to picture
Usage Note
Figurer means to appear or feature in a list, text, or production (son nom figure sur la liste = his name appears on the list). The reflexive se figurer means 'to imagine' or 'to picture oneself' — figure-toi que... is a conversational opener meaning 'imagine that...'. The noun la figure means face, figure, or a rhetorical figure.
Examples
"Son nom figure dans tous les journaux."
Natural Translation
His name features in all the newspapers.

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