Synonyms:
figurative, nonliteral
Meaning: (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech; "figurative language"
Usage examples
She said the Serpent informed her that "chestnut" was a figurative term meaning an aged and mouldy joke.
But the food taken by angels was neither changed into the assumed body, nor was the body of such a nature that food could be changed into it; consequently, it was not a true eating, but figurative of spiritual eating.
Moreover that angels assumed bodies under the Old Law was a figurative indication that the Word of God would take a human body; because all the apparitions in the Old Testament were ordained to that one whereby the Son of God appeared in the flesh.