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
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
It tempers its poppy lushness with starker, harder music, although the burbling synth that runs throughout seems to prefigure New Order’s later direction.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2020
As an example, Alter cited Dr. Steiner’s assertion that “Antigone draws about herself an ethical solitude, a lucid dryness which seems to prefigure the stringencies of Kant.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 5, 2020
If Manuel had overheard, it was comparatively easy to prefigure his next step.
From The King of Arcadia by Francis Lynde
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
This improbable gift was succeeded by a clock-radio—a Sony Dream Machine with a blue digital display in a sleek white cube that prefigured Apple’s austere aesthetic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 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
It would be strange indeed if in the multitude of dreams that come to humanity, some few should not be followed by events so similar as to warrant the belief that they were prefigured.
From Etidorhpa or the End of Earth. The Strange History of a Mysterious Being and The Account of a Remarkable Journey by John Uri Lloyd
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
The true personality of a ship resides in no prefiguring lump of wood with a sightless smile to which all seas come alike and all weathers.
From From a Cornish Window A New Edition by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
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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.
