prefigure
verb🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡə(r)/
🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡjər/
(formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they prefigure | 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡə(r)/ 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡjər/ |
| he / she / it prefigures | 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡəz/ 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡjərz/ |
| past simple prefigured | 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡəd/ 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡjərd/ |
| past participle prefigured | 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡəd/ 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡjərd/ |
| -ing form prefiguring | 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡərɪŋ/ 🔊/ˌpriːˈfɪɡjərɪŋ/ |
- prefigure something
to suggest or show something that will happen in the future 预示；预兆 These early paintings clearly prefigure his later work. 这些早期的绘画显然预示了他的后期作品。
Word Originlate Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin praefigurare ‘represent beforehand’, from prae ‘before’ + figurare ‘to form, fashion’.