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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
Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2025
Several effigies of Amazon founder Bezos, whose personal wealth is estimated at more than $220B, have been found around the Italian city over recent days.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 26 June 2025
Four Atletico Madrid fans have been handed prison sentences after hanging an effigy of Vinicius Junior from a bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground.
—Phil Hay, New York Times, 17 June 2025
Houthi supporters with effigies resembling President Donald Trump, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on December 6, 2024, in Sana'a, Yemen.
—Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for effigy
Cite this Entry
“Effigy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effigy. Accessed 16 Jul. 2025.
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effigy
noun
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