prefigurative
Symbolically anticipating future
Prefigurative describes something that foreshadows or anticipates what is to come.
In political contexts, prefigurative politics means embodying the future society you want to create—a group organized without hierarchy is prefigurative of the egalitarian world it seeks.
The commune's consensus-based decisions were prefigurative of the democracy they envisioned.
The term appears in theology, art criticism, and social movements.
Hinting at later events
- propheticForetelling future events
- presageIndicate beforehand
- portentousOminously significant
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
precursor · foretelling · adumbration · forebode · herald · omen · augury · prognostic
Imaginative planner of futures
- aspirationalStriving toward ideals
- transformativeCausing major change
- idealisticPursuing unrealistic standards
- alternativeAnother available choice
experimental · radical · blueprint · model · prototype · embryonic · nascent · communitarian
One opposing all governance
- autonomistSelf-governance advocate
- grassrootsCommon people as political base
- collectiveJointly organized group
- cooperativeJointly operated enterprise
solidarity · participatory · egalitarian · communal · emancipatory · consensus · assembly · organizing
foreshadowing
Hinting at later events
- propheticForetelling future events
- presageIndicate beforehand
- portentousOminously significant
harbinger · precursor · foretelling · adumbration · forebode · herald · omen · augury · prognostic · forewarn
visionary
Imaginative planner of futures
- aspirationalStriving toward ideals
- transformativeCausing major change
- idealisticPursuing unrealistic standards
alternative · experimental · radical · blueprint · model · prototype · embryonic · nascent · communitarian · intentional
anarchist
One opposing all governance
- autonomistSelf-governance advocate
- grassrootsCommon people as political base
- collectiveJointly organized group
cooperative · solidarity · participatory · egalitarian · communal · emancipatory · consensus · assembly · organizing · Zapatista
prefigurativeretrospective
Reviewing what came before
commemorative · backward-looking · recollective · historical · memorial
prefigurativeliteral
Meaning exactly what's said
descriptive · prosaic · denotative · matter-of-fact · mundane
prefigurativeinstrumentalist
One who performs music
strategic · deferred · transitional · Leninist · statist