"the shape of things to come" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From the novel The Shape of Things to Come by H. G. Wells (1933).",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2015 May 19, Tahmima Anam, “The Rohingya crisis is not an isolated tragedy – it’s the shape of things to come”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "The Rohingya crisis is not an isolated tragedy – it’s the shape of things to come [title]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 July 5, Steve Rose, “‘Frankly it blew my mind’: how Tron changed cinema – and predicted the future of tech”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "That is trendsetting and foreshadowing; pointing the way ahead."
      ],
      "id": "en-the_shape_of_things_to_come-en-phrase-k2V~HkLO",
      "links": [
        [
          "trendsetting",
          "trendsetting"
        ],
        [
          "foreshadow",
          "foreshadow"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "H. G. Wells",
        "The Shape of Things to Come"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "the shape of things to come"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From the novel The Shape of Things to Come by H. G. Wells (1933).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "head": "the shape of things to come"
      },
      "expansion": "the shape of things to come",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms where the adjective follows the noun",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2015 May 19, Tahmima Anam, “The Rohingya crisis is not an isolated tragedy – it’s the shape of things to come”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "The Rohingya crisis is not an isolated tragedy – it’s the shape of things to come [title]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 July 5, Steve Rose, “‘Frankly it blew my mind’: how Tron changed cinema – and predicted the future of tech”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "That is trendsetting and foreshadowing; pointing the way ahead."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "trendsetting",
          "trendsetting"
        ],
        [
          "foreshadow",
          "foreshadow"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "H. G. Wells",
        "The Shape of Things to Come"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "the shape of things to come"
}