To figure out something is to finally understand it or solve it after thinking. The moment the pieces fit.
It is chiefly American in origin and now thoroughly at home in British English too, alongside work out, which does the same job. It covers mechanisms, problems and people, so you can figure out how a lock works and figure out what somebody really wants. It splits round an object, so you figure it out. There is often a note of effort in it, since figuring something out takes time.
1phrasefigure outTo understand or solve something after thinking about it.
“I cannot figure out how this thing opens.”
Also accepted in games: work out
Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove, Thinking & Memory
First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.
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