prefigure

1. 1

   To show or suggest ahead of time; to represent beforehand.

   • Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, all prefigure NRx urban futures.
2. 2

   To predict or foresee.

syn. presage · portend · forereckon · foreshadow · announce

1. 1

   That which prefigures or appears to predict; a harbinger.

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