prefigure

verb

1. To show or suggest ahead of time; to represent beforehand.

   “Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, all prefigure NRx urban futures.”

2. To predict or foresee.

noun

1. That which prefigures or appears to predict; a harbinger.

   “Quite different is the way in which the tomboy girled the rebel narrative. In recent years, queer theorists have taken a deep interest in the tomboy as a prefigure for the butch dyke.”

   “In his influential commentary (the Moralia) Gregory the Great interpreted the protagonist typologically as a prefigure of Christ and of the Church persecuted.”