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.
It may, however, forerun a wartime wave of back-to-the-bed "escape" novels.
From Time Magazine Archive
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But the reflexes have a machine-like fatality, and conscious aim does not forerun their execution.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 4 "Bradford, William" to "Brequigny, Louis" by Various
The cape jasmine wore hundreds of her own white favors, whose fragrance forerun the sight.
From Dr. Sevier by Cable, George Washington
Gone, gone, gone! they have fled before the piercing and terrible winds that forerun the storms and the hurricanes.
From Adventures in the Philippine Islands by La Gironière, Paul P. de
When the water's countenance Blurrs 'twixt glance and second glance; When our tattered smokes forerun.
From Songs from Books by Kipling, Rudyard
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.