forerun
Americanverb (used with object)
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to run in front of; come before; precede.
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to be the precursor or harbinger of; prefigure.
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to anticipate or foretell.
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to forestall.
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to outrun or outstrip.
verb
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to serve as a herald for
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to go before; precede
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to prevent or forestall
Etymology
Origin of forerun
1505–15; fore- + run; probably not continuous with Middle English forerennen (intransitive) to run ahead, Old English fōryrnan
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.
See Examples For:
It may, however, forerun a wartime wave of back-to-the-bed "escape" novels.
From Time Magazine Archive
He only wondered what strange experience this blindfold journey was to forerun.
From The Story of the Foss River Ranch A Tale of the Northwest by Cullum, Ridgwell
Prosperity forerun thee: awkward chance Never be neighbour to thy wishes' venture: Content and Fame advance thee: ever thrive, And glory thy mortality survive!
From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 7 by Various
Woe to light hearts, they still forerun our fall!
From The White Devil by Webster, John
Yet this I have ever noted when thou wast thus, It still forerun some strange event: my Sister Died when thou wast thus last: hark hark, ho, What mournfull noise is this comes creeping forward?
From The Mad Lover The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (3 of 10) by Beaumont, Francis
Faintly on this other hand the voices of the ladies returning from the garden foreran them.
From Kincaid's Battery by Kimball, Alonzo
Now, despite Mercia that frowned, they named him king of kings, Bretwalda; and the standard of the Seven In peace foreran his feet.
From Legends of the Saxon Saints by De Vere, Aubrey
Acoustics, we think, foreran somewhat the science of heat, as the science of heat preceded that of light.
From Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World by Ridpath, John Clark
Along the length of the old trail a marvelous fifty years have enriched a history whose epic days record the deeds of vanguards, who foreran and builded for the softer days of golden-wedding years.
From Vanguards of the Plains by McCarter, Margaret Hill
In that he foreran our Lord, his deed is beyond our reach: but in three other concernments, in no wise.
From The White Rose of Langley A Story of the Olden Time by Holt, Emily Sarah
Here’s a timeline of Steve Bannon’s White House months and the forerunning campaign role:
From The Guardian ● Aug. 18, 2017
A finger forerunning his eyes along the page.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
He welcomed the mere accident of their presence as though it possessed a forerunning intelligence, as though it were the annunciation of his approaching change of life.
From The Choir Invisible by Allen, James Lane
In such cases the axiom is not the forerunning cause of the action, but its justifying explanation.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 64, February, 1863 by Various
These Acts the people are much rejoiced with, as being words forerunning their freedom, and they wait for their accomplishment that their joy may be full.
From The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer by Berens, Lewis Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
