antecessor
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of antecessor
1375–1425; late Middle English antecessour (< Middle French ) < Latin antecessor he who goes before, a predecessor, equivalent to anteced-, variant stem of antecēdere ( see antecede) + -tor -tor; cf. ancestor
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
These include remains assigned to Homo erectus as well as Homo antecessor, a distinct species, with both dated to around one million years ago.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 16, 2025
Patterns of bone-breakage in Homo antecessor, considered the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, suggest that cannibalism goes back a half-million years or more.
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2023
They said it’s possible the items were produced by Homo antecessor, the hominin species dating from that period in other parts of Europe.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 2, 2023
“There is an archaic human population with facial morphology that resembles modern humans in many ways, and it is a lot older than Jebel Irhoud,” he says of H. antecessor.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 8, 2017
But the grantee often took possession of the whole of the land held by the antecessor, as if it were all alike his own.
From William the Conqueror by Edward Augustus Freeman
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