PREFIGURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prefigure mean? 

• PREFIGURE (verb)
  The verb PREFIGURE has 2 senses:

1. imagine or consider beforehand

2. indicate, as with a sign or an omen

  Familiarity information: PREFIGURE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREFIGURE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they prefigure    ... he / she / it prefigures   
Past simple: prefigured   
Past participle: prefigured   
-ing form: prefiguring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Imagine or consider beforehand

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

It wasn't as bad as I had prefigured

Hypernyms (to "prefigure" is one way to...):

conceive of; envisage; ideate; imagine (form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

prefiguration (the act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehand)

prefiguration (an example that prefigures or foreshadows what is to come)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Indicate, as with a sign or an omen

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

augur; auspicate; betoken; bode; forecast; foreshadow; foretell; omen; portend; predict; prefigure; presage; prognosticate

Context example:

These signs bode bad news

Hypernyms (to "prefigure" is one way to...):

bespeak; betoken; indicate; point; signal (be a signal for or a symptom of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "prefigure"):

threaten (to be a menacing indication of something)

foreshow (foretell by divine inspiration)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

prefigurative (indistinctly prophetic)