Definition of "figural"

The counterparts, in the Christian era, to the figural anticipation of Christ in the Old Testament were the deliverer monarchs and leaders of later times […]

2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 185

Some of the Umayyads found themselves charmed by the cultures which they had conquered, so that archaeologists in Palestine and Syria have revealed an astonishing flourishing of Christian-style figural art under their rule.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, pages 262–3