prefiguration

noun

pre·​fig·​u·​ra·​tion (ˌ)prē-ˌfi-gyə-ˈrā-shən 

-gə-

1

: the act of prefiguring : the state of being prefigured

2

: something that prefigures

prefigurative

ˌprē-ˈfi-gyə-rə-tiv 

-gə-

adjective

Examples of prefiguration in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This chilling prefiguration of Hitler’s Final Solution is unmistakable, and Heidegger never explained, let alone apologized for, such horrendous statements. —Gregory Fried, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2014

And the concept of prefiguration, for its part, freights radical movements—sometimes for better, often for worse—with deep obligations beyond the already difficult tasks of winning and securing power, holding themselves to standards that state actors and other powerful opponents don’t have to meet. —Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic, 20 Sep. 2023

And the anti-authoritarian activists in the New Left movements trained themselves to create new spaces for prefiguration through a now familiar set of tactics. —Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic, 20 Sep. 2023

Since the early 20th century, Cycladic figures have had iconic power for contemporary artists, as an ancient prefiguration of abstraction. —Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2022

The pharaoh’s monotheism is presented as a prefiguration of the Abrahamic relationship between God and man. —Mary Spencer, National Review, 14 Dec. 2019

Children, groups of friends, couples, and elderly people perch on the moon’s hook, beaming into the camera, acting out a carnivalesque prefiguration of the events of 1969. —Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, 10 July 2019

Tragically truncated lives tend to be told in reverse, as narratives of inevitability, thick with prefigurations of death. —Leah Ollman, latimes.com, 5 July 2019

In other words, the bronze serpent is a prefiguration of Christ’s Crucifixion and the world’s salvation. —Jason Farago, New York Times, 26 July 2017

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1