prefigure
Americanverb (used with object)
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to show or represent beforehand by a figure or type; foreshadow.
-
to picture or represent to oneself beforehand; imagine.
verb
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to represent or suggest in advance
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to imagine or consider beforehand
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prefigure
1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin praefigūrāre. See pre-, figure (v.)
Explanation
Something that is a sign of things to come can be said to prefigure the future thing — and usually not in a good way. Sleeping through your alarm Monday morning might prefigure your entire week — in other words, it might be a sign of the unlucky days ahead.English is rich in terms that have the basic meaning of "tell something about the future." Perhaps because we all wish we knew more about it! The Latin root of prefigure is praefigurare, from prae, "before," and figurare , "to form or shape."
Vocabulary lists containing prefigure
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: pre-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That certainly wasn’t the first time a Leonard Cohen song seemed to prefigure events that had not happened, or to capture a global state of mind before it fully coalesced.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2025
Exhibited in New York in 1952, the works prefigure the Pop Art movement by a decade; Warhol began drawing and painting dollar signs in the early 1960s.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 17, 2022
People who have received the shots two to four weeks earlier should watch for symptoms that may prefigure the onset of clotting.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 13, 2021
Watching Road to Bali – and other titles in the series – you can see how much they prefigure the high-concept buddy comedies of Coming to America or Wedding Crashers several decades later.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 28, 2020
Rise; prefigure the grand solution Of earth’s municipal, insular schisms,— Statesmen draping self-love’s conclusion In cheap vernacular patriotisms, Unable to give up Judæa for Jesus.
From The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume IV by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
In its range of diverse styles, his work prefigured the eclectic jazz of the 21st century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
The rumored price increases from Samsung were prefigured in a note on the stock by Citi analyst Peter Lee last week.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
It is widely understood to have prefigured the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and the rise of modern conservatism.
From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2025
They did not expect what this vocabulary prefigured for their lives.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2024
All this was prefigured in the contest between David and Goliath.
From True Christianity by Johann Arndt
That’s one way to start a book—bracing and bitter, conveying Mary Cain’s scorn for the athletic-shoe-and-sportswear giant while prefiguring her larger message that “sports normalizes cruelty.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
You mention them as prefiguring the activism of the Freedom Summer.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2022
In 2017, Democrats made unexpected gains in the House of Delegates with candidates who were predominantly women and minorities, prefiguring the national trend of more diverse candidate pools.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 22, 2021
Inevitably, one of the pods eventually malfunctioned, trapping a musician inside and prefiguring a famous scene from “This Is Spinal Tap.”
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 12, 2017
Ezzelino was indeed only the first of a long and horrible procession, the most terror-striking because the earliest, prefiguring all the rest.
From Renaissance in Italy, Volume 1 (of 7) The Age of the Despots by John Addington Symonds
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
