noun
Meaning 1
A runner at the front or ahead.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
forerunner
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
-
US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
-
CMU ARPABET: F AO1 R AH2 N ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
By extension, a non-competitor who leads out the competitors on to the circuit, or who runs/rides the course prior to competitor trials, usually testing or checking the way.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A precursor or harbinger, a warning ahead.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A forebear, an ancestor, a predecessor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Bakelite is a forerunner of today's plastics.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A postage stamp used in the time before a region or area issues stamps of its own.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, philately
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
something that precedes and indicates the approach of something or someone
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: harbinger, predecessor, herald, precursor
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: indication, indicant
noun
Meaning 7
a person who goes before or announces the coming of another
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: precursor
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
Narrower terms: predecessor
noun
Meaning 8
anything that precedes something similar in time
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: antecedent
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: temporal relation
History
Etymology
From Middle English forrenner, foreriner. Calque of Latin praecursor (“one who runs before, a forerunner”). Equivalent to fore- + runner and/or forerun + -er.
Across languages
Translations
50 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- German: Vornewegläufer — runner at the front or ahead
- German: Frontläufer — runner at the front or ahead
- Hungarian: előfutár — runner at the front or ahead
- Latin: antecursor — runner at the front or ahead
- Tagalog: tagapagpauna — runner at the front or ahead
- Tagalog: pasimuna — runner at the front or ahead
- Tamil: முன்னோடி (muṉṉōṭi) — runner at the front or ahead
- Albanian: pararendës — precursor, harbinger
- Bulgarian: предшественик (predšestvenik) — precursor, harbinger
- Bulgarian: предвестник (predvestnik) — precursor, harbinger
- Czech: předchůdce — precursor, harbinger
- Finnish: edeltäjä — precursor, harbinger
- French: prédécesseur — precursor, harbinger
- French: avant coureur — precursor, harbinger
- Galician: precursor — precursor, harbinger
- Galician: precursora — precursor, harbinger
- German: Vorbote — precursor, harbinger
- German: Vorzeichen — precursor, harbinger
- German: Vorläufer — precursor, harbinger
- German: Wegbereiter — precursor, harbinger
- German: Vorreiter — precursor, harbinger
- Greek: πρόδρομος (pródromos) — precursor, harbinger
- Greek: προπομπός (propompós) — precursor, harbinger
- Ancient Greek: πρόδρομος (pródromos) — precursor, harbinger
- Hungarian: előjel — precursor, harbinger
- Hungarian: előhírnök — precursor, harbinger
- Hungarian: előrejelző — precursor, harbinger
- Latin: praecursor — precursor, harbinger
- Macedonian: предвесник (predvesnik) — precursor, harbinger
- Polish: prekursor — precursor, harbinger
- Polish: poprzednik — precursor, harbinger
- Portuguese: precursor — precursor, harbinger
- Russian: предше́ственник (predšéstvennik) — precursor, harbinger
- Russian: предве́стник (predvéstnik) — precursor, harbinger
- Spanish: precursor — precursor, harbinger
- Swedish: föregångare — precursor, harbinger
- Tagalog: tagapagpauna — precursor, harbinger
- Zulu: imvula — precursor, harbinger
- Bulgarian: предтеча (predteča) — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Finnish: edeltäjä — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- German: Vorfahre — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- German: Vorgänger — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Hungarian: előfutár — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Hungarian: előd — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Hungarian: ős — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Macedonian: претеча (preteča) — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Old Church Slavonic: прѣдътеча (prědŭteča) — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Russian: предтеча (predteča) — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Swedish: föregångare — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
- Tamil: முன்னோடி (muṉṉōṭi) — forebear, ancestor, predecessor
Real reading context