Meanings
plural prefigurations · alternative præfiguration
- countableuncountableA vague representation or suggestion of something before it has happened or been accomplished; something that prefigures.
This is a kind of early, obscure prefiguration of Marx's later theory of 'commodity fetishism'.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 1031 more example
Those ceremonies were prefigurations of Christ to come : these traditions are defigurations and deformations of Christ exhibited
1628, Joseph Hall, Christian Liberty Laid Forth
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehand
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From Late Latin praefigurationem, nominative form of praefiguratio.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
prefiguration. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prefiguration
“prefiguration.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prefiguration. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prefiguration,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prefiguration.
Source: prefiguration on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.