prefiguration

[pree-fig-yuh-rey-shuhn, pree-fig-]

noun

1. the act of prefiguring.

2. that in which something is prefigured.

Word History and Origins

Origin of prefiguration¹

1350–1400; Middle English prefiguracioun < Late Latin praefigūrātiōn- (stem of praefigūrātiō ), equivalent to praefigūrāt ( us ) (past participle of praefigūrāre to prefigure ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

It’s a prefiguration — of how to think, how to collaborate, and how to stay sane when the private is gone.

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Since the early 20th century, Cycladic figures have had iconic power for contemporary artists, as an ancient prefiguration of abstraction.

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“I wouldn’t say it’s a prefiguration of Romanticism; it is already Romantic. Rather, he goes straight to contemporary music, straight to Alban Berg.”

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This future-facing prefiguration manifests one way that nostalgia isn’t destined solely to invite us into false romances with the past — it can also illuminate traditions that have long been operating in the margins.

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Avineri imagines them strolling through the spa and “sharing their ideas about history, past, present and possibly future,” in a “dramatic prefiguration of the encounter between Zion and Kremlin.”

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Related Words

• explanation 
• expression 
• gesture 
• hint 
• implication 
• inkling 
• manifestation 
• omen 
• proof 
• reminder 
• sign 
• signal 
• suggestion 
• symptom 
• trace 
• warning