prefigured

verb

past tense of prefigure
as in foreshadowed
to give a slight indication of beforehand the first crocus traditionally prefigures the arrival of spring

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of prefigured Other Black families tried to hold on under the new regime but ultimately found Wilmington untenable and moved north, joining a local exodus that prefigured the Great Migration. — Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 3 July 2026 In July 1962, Froio prefigured her lifelong involvement with the Hamptons by writing a piece for WWD about what was selling at the boutiques in West Hampton, commenting on the merchandise at stores called Le Sorelle (The Sisters) and Treasure Trove. — Lorna Koski, Footwear News, 11 June 2026 Projected on an obelisk, this narrowest of histories prefigured the commemorative distortions to follow. — Greg Allen, ARTnews.com, 7 June 2026 That prefigured, in a much smaller and less consequential way, Iran’s own actions in blocking the Strait of Hormuz during the current crisis. — Ioana Emy Matesan, The Conversation, 9 Apr. 2026 The horror has come now like a storm— what if this night prefigured the night after death— what if all thereafter was an eternal quivering on the edge of an abyss, with everything base and vicious in oneself urging one forward and the baseness and viciousness of the world just ahead. — Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026 Chess by telegraph also prefigured chess played through other means of telecommunications. — IEEE Spectrum, 11 Dec. 2025 The dynamic prefigured the White House of Bush 43, which the Veep largely staffed, and substantially dominated. — Karl Vick, Time, 4 Nov. 2025 Your 2018 book, The Lies That Bind, seems to have prefigured the backlash against a certain way of talking about identity—as essential or at least fixed—that was prevalent in the 2010s. — Lula Konner, The New York Review of Books, 4 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prefigured
  1. foreshadowed
  2. heralded
  3. predicted
  4. anticipated
  5. implied
Verb
  • And his cynical dealings in Washington foreshadowed a toxification of US politics that now runs rampant.
    — Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2026
  • That framing foreshadowed a moment a few months later that would push Carney even further onto the world stage.
    — Desiree Adib, ABC News, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of foreshadowed
Verb
  • The deal was heralded by advocates and legislators but also only seen as one victory in a much larger fight.
    — Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 28 Aug. 2026
  • And after more than a decade in the wilderness, the late 1980s heralded a major revaluation of her work.
    — Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of heralded
Verb
  • Farocki, who read his Marx closely, predicted a world of labor ever more estranged from its effects.
    — Pablo Larios, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2026
  • And in many cases, the sources influencing an LLM’s view of a brand are rarely the ones the marketing team would have predicted.
    — Joshua George, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of predicted
Verb
  • Rough surf and locally hazardous conditions for small craft are also anticipated over the northern Gulf.
    — Doyle Rice, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026
  • The $17 billion deal, which will be funded by Aon with new debt, is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
    — Davis Giangiulio, CNBC, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of anticipated
Verb
  • Organic cotton needs to be named, not just implied, in the frameworks that will direct investment over the next decade.
    — Bart Vollaard, Footwear News, 2 Sep. 2026
  • While stocks slipped midday as shares of Nvidia unwound some of its big earnings gains, the S&P was down three-tenths of a percent, about half the roughly 60 basis-point range options pricing had implied for Friday's session.
    — Oliver Renick, CNBC, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of implied

Browse Nearby Words

prefigure
prefigured
prefigurement
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Cite this Entry

“Prefigured.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prefigured. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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