Adjacent Words

Prefigure definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PREFIG'URE, v.t. [L. proe, before, and figuro, to fashion.]
To exhibit by antecedent representation, or by types and similitude.
In the Old Testament, things are prefigured, which are performed in the New.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: imagine or consider beforehand; "It wasn't as bad as I had prefigured"
2: indicate by signs; "These signs bode bad news" [syn: bode, portend, auspicate, prognosticate, omen, presage, betoken, foreshadow, augur, foretell, prefigure, forecast, predict]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin praefigurare, from Latin prae- pre- + figurare to shape, picture, from figura figure Date: 15th century 1. to show, suggest, or announce by an antecedent type, image, or likeness 2. to picture or imagine beforehand ; foresee • prefigurement noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 represent beforehand by a figure or type. 2 imagine beforehand. Derivatives: prefiguration n. prefigurative adj. prefigurement n. Etymology: ME f. eccl.L praefigurare (as PRAE-, FIGURE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prefigure Pre*fig"ure (?; 135), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prefigured; p. pr. & vb. n. Prefiguring.] [F. pr['e]figurer, or L. praefigurare, praefiguratum; prae before + figurare to figure. See Figure, and cf. Prefigurate.] To show, suggest, or announce, by antecedent types and similitudes; to foreshadow. ``Whom all the various types prefigured.'' --South.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(prefigures, prefiguring, prefigured) If one thing prefigures another, it is a first indication which suggests or determines that the second thing will happen. (FORMAL) The wall through Berlin was finally ruptured, prefiguring the reunification of Germany. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Foreshow, foretoken, betoken, foreshadow, portend, signify, indicate.

Moby Thesaurus

adumbrate, assume, augur, be afraid, believe, betoken, body forth, cast a horoscope, cast a nativity, conceive, conclude, consider, daresay, deduce, deem, demonstrate, divine, dope, dope out, dowse for water, dream, embody, exemplify, expect, fancy, feel, figure, forebode, forecast, foresee, foreshadow, foretell, foretoken, fortune-tell, gather, grant, guess, hariolate, hint, illustrate, image, imagine, impersonate, incarnate, indicate, infer, let, let be, make a prediction, make a prognosis, make a prophecy, mean, mirror, opine, personate, personify, point to, predict, preindicate, presage, presign, presignal, presignify, presume, presuppose, presurmise, pretypify, prognosticate, project, prophesy, provisionally accept, read palms, read tea leaves, read the future, realize, reckon, reflect, repute, say, shadow, shadow forth, signify, soothsay, speculate, spell, suppose, surmise, suspect, take, take for, take for granted, take it, take to be, tell fortunes, tell the future, think, token, typify, understand, vaticinate