prefigure

[ pree-fig-yer ]

verb (used with object)

, pre·fig·ured, pre·fig·ur·ing.

1. to show or represent beforehand by a figure or type; foreshadow.
2. to picture or represent to oneself beforehand; imagine.

prefigure

/ priːˈfɪɡə /

verb

1. to represent or suggest in advance
2. to imagine or consider beforehand

Derived Forms

• preˈfigurement, noun

Other Words From

• pre·fig·ur·a·tive [pree-, fig, -yer-, uh, -tiv], adjective
• pre·figur·a·tive·ly adverb
• pre·figur·a·tive·ness noun
• pre·figure·ment noun
• unpre·figured adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of prefigure¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin praefigūrāre. See pre-, figure (v.)

Example Sentences

The querulous, interconnected pamphlets printed in seventeenth-century Europe prefigure the culture of modern blogging.

From The Daily Beast

We must see him through some lenses—we must prefigure his immortality.

From Project Gutenberg

The friendships of young girls prefigure the closer relations which will one day come in and dissolve their earlier intimacies.

From Project Gutenberg

He had tried feebly to prefigure this face, but never had his visioning approached the actual in its majestic, still beauty.

From Project Gutenberg

Let the fact of this great gift prefigure to us the august office of Woman.

From Project Gutenberg

May it faintly prefigure the unending blackness of that eternal night you have chosen as your future portion.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• foreshadow
• foretell
• presage
• typify