prefigure

See also: préfiguré, préfigure, and prefiguré

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English prefiguren, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin praefigurare, from figurare (“to shape, picture”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹiːfɪɡjɚ/

Verb

1. To show or suggest ahead of time; to represent beforehand (often used in a Biblical context).
2. To predict or foresee.

Synonyms

• presage
• portend
• forereckon
• foreshadow
• announce

Derived terms

• prefigurement

Translations

show ahead of time

• French: préfigurer (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Noun

prefigure (plural prefigures)

1. That which prefigures or appears to predict; a harbinger.
   • 2005, Leerom Medovoi, Rebels: Youth and the Cold War Origins of Identity (page 293)

     Quite different is the way in which the tomboy girled the rebel narrative. In recent years, queer theorists have taken a deep interest in the tomboy as a prefigure for the butch dyke.

   • 2012, C. S. Shapley, Studies in French Poetry of the Fifteenth Century (page 5)

     In his influential commentary (the Moralia) Gregory the Great interpreted the protagonist typologically as a prefigure of Christ and of the Church persecuted.

---

Spanish

Verb

prefigure

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of prefigurar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of prefigurar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of prefigurar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of prefigurar.