Meanings
- That is trendsetting and foreshadowing; pointing the way ahead.
The Rohingya crisis is not an isolated tragedy – it’s the shape of things to come [title]
2015 May 19, Tahmima Anam, “The Rohingya crisis is not an isolated tragedy – it’s the shape of things to come”, in The Guardian1 more example
Few appreciated it at the time but with 40 years’ hindsight, Steven Lisberger’s sci-fi adventure Tron was the shape of things to come: in cinema, in real life, and in virtual life.
2022 July 5, Steve Rose, “‘Frankly it blew my mind’: how Tron changed cinema – and predicted the future of tech”, in The Guardian
Origin
From the novel The Shape of Things to Come by H. G. Wells (1933).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
the shape of things to come. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20shape%20of%20things%20to%20come
“the shape of things to come.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20shape%20of%20things%20to%20come. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “the shape of things to come,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20shape%20of%20things%20to%20come.
Source: the shape of things to come on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.