forerunner

American  

[fawr-ruhn-er, fohr-, fawr-ruhn-er, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌrʌn ər, ˈfoʊr-, fɔrˈrʌn ər, foʊr- /

noun

forerunners plural

1. predecessor; ancestor; forebear; precursor.

2. an omen, sign, or indication of something to follow; portent.

   The warm evenings were a forerunner of summer.

3. a person who goes or is sent in advance to announce the coming of someone or something that follows; herald; harbinger.

4. the Forerunner, John the Baptist.

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forerunner British  

/ ˈfɔːˌrʌnə /

noun

1. a person or thing that precedes another; precursor

2. a person or thing coming in advance to herald the arrival of someone or something; harbinger

3. an indication beforehand of something to follow; omen; portent

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• forerunners
  plural

Etymology

Origin of forerunner

First recorded in 1250–1300, forerunner is from the Middle English word forrenner. See fore-, runner

Explanation

A forerunner is someone or something that came before and paved the way for something today. Rotary phones were forerunners of today's complex cell phones. The prefix fore- in forerunner is a clue that this word has to do with things that came before. A forerunner is someone from the past who preceded someone today, making new things possible. In the NBA, players like Wilt Chamberlain were forerunners of centers who played later. Early, gigantic computers were forerunners of today's sleek sophisticated computers. George Washington was a forerunner of every US president who has served since. Make sure to thank forerunners for paving the way for the rest of us slackers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

forerunner forerunners

Among the proclamations of the first French republic was an end to slavery in its island possessions—a forerunner of wider abolition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026

She made the leap to the small screen in the 1950s on Children's Television Club, a forerunner of Blue Peter.

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

The WTO's forerunner was responsible for negotiating the global agreements that reduced tariffs on trade in goods that helped bring about post-WWII prosperity.

From Barron's ● May 6, 2026

The Actor Awards ignored Erivo altogether, also skipping “Wicked: For Good” for the cast award that its forerunner was nominated for last year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026

Mama Tataba’s job, we were surprised to learn, was to live with us and earn a small stipend by doing the same work she’d done for our forerunner in the Kilanga Mission, Brother Fowles.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Margaret and Alice are the forerunners of Lucy and Ethel, and Shakespeare’s comedy, written expressly to entertain, gives us a sense of what an Elizabethan-era situation comedy might look like.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

AMD was founded in 1969 by Jerry Sanders and other veterans of Fairchild Semiconductor, a pioneering developer of what were known as integrated circuits, the forerunners of modern chips.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

The flames would then be spread across the country for about 1,200 forerunners to relay.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2024

For our fruit-loving forerunners a few million years before we figured out cooking, a little squish was an easy cue that our food was ready to eat.

From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2024

The church modes, like their Greek forerunners, were ascribed certain moods, and a great deal of theoretical energy was expended over hundreds of years describing their effect and their best possible application.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• precursor