Adumbration

to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.
to foreshadow; prefigure.
to darken or conceal partially; overshadow.
contemporary examples

but sanjay seems today like an adumbration, rather than the acme, of authoritarian possibilities in india.
hold onto your p-n-s david frum, justin green november 28, 2012

historical examples

newman was the true priest, and froude recognized his genius and that his soul was “an adumbration of the divine.”
library of the world’s best literature, ancient and modern, vol. 15 various

on the evolutionist interpretation this is an adumbration of the actual genealogical tree or stammbaum.
herbert spencer j. arthur thomson

here has been seen an adumbration of natural selection: he himself admits the difficulty he has in making it clear.
schopenhauer thomas whittaker

we get thus far in the adumbration of essentia that it is the subject of all predicates, but never itself a predicate.
aristotle george grote

but an image is but an image still, and can be but an adumbration or shadow of the true perfect being.
the existence of g-d francois de salignac de la mothe- fenelon

you cannot do it; unless indeed in isaac’s sacrifice you are content to find the adumbration of the scene on calvary.
inspiration and interpretation john burgon

every nerve centre must be prepared to express any adumbration of plasticity.
the merry-go-round carl van vechten

there is no explanation, for instance, in calling beauty an adumbration of divine attributes.
the sense of beauty george santayana

men never move to the adumbration of general right until the conquest of political rights has been proved inadequate.
political thought in england from locke to bentham harold j. laski

verb (transitive)
to outline; give a faint indication of
to foreshadow
to overshadow; obscure
n.

1530s, from latin adumbrationem (nominative adumbratio) “a sketch in shadow, sketch, outline,” noun of action from past participle stem of adumbrare “to cast a shadow, overshadow, represent (a thing) in outline,” from ad- “to” (see ad-) + umbrare “to cast in shadow,” from pie -andho- “blind, dark” (see umbrage).
v.

“to outline, to sketch,” 1580s, from latin adumbratus “sketched, shadowed in outline,” past participle of adumbrare “to represent (a thing) in outline” (see adumbration). meaning “to overshadow” is 1660s. related: adumbrated; adumbrating.