Sentence:  It is as when we seek for the signification of any particular word in a language; we may find that it bears many different meanings, and some which seem to be contradictory to each other; yet upon further search we may perhaps discover that there is a common idea, which is the source of them all, and that they differ only because the word is taken in one sense literally, in another <WSD>figurately</WSD>, and in a third with some special application. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  figuratively, in a figurative manner.