Did you know?
An earlier sense of effigy is "a likeness of a person shaped out of stone or other materials," so it's not surprising to learn that effigy derives, by way of Middle French, from the Latin effigies, which, in turn, comes from the verb effingere ("to form"), a combination of the prefix ex- and fingere, which means "to shape." Fingere is the common ancestor of a number of other English nouns that name things you can shape. A fiction is a story you shape with your imagination. Figments are shaped by the imagination, too; they're something you imagine or make up. A figure can be a numeral, a shape, or a picture that you shape as you draw or write.
Examples of effigy in a Sentence
Michael Rios, CNN Money, 26 Mar. 2026
Roads in the capital city, Brazzaville, were paved with Sassou N’Guesso's effigies.
—ABC News, 15 Mar. 2026
An annual festival in Andorra drew condemnation from the country’s small Jewish community after an effigy bearing the Israeli flag was staged in a mock trial and then hung and shot.
—Grace Gilson, Sun Sentinel, 23 Feb. 2026
An effigy of Malcolm Glazer was hung from Old Trafford’s gates, there were violent chants aimed at the family and two men were arrested for public-order offences.
—Chris McKenna, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for effigy
Cite this Entry
“Effigy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effigy. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
effigy
noun
