forerunner
Americannoun
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predecessor; ancestor; forebear; precursor.
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an omen, sign, or indication of something to follow; portent.
The warm evenings were a forerunner of summer.
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a person who goes or is sent in advance to announce the coming of someone or something that follows; herald; harbinger.
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the Forerunner, John the Baptist.
noun
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a person or thing that precedes another; precursor
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a person or thing coming in advance to herald the arrival of someone or something; harbinger
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an indication beforehand of something to follow; omen; portent
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.
Vocabulary lists containing forerunner
Power Prefix: fore-
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: fore-
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Spooked
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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 proved a forerunner of a television revolution.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Two years later, though, Jospin won a revenge of sorts when the cocky Chirac called an early general election, expecting his right-wing RPR party -- forerunner of Nicolas Sarkozy's Republicans -- to win easily.
From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026
"She was the forerunner of Take Two - without her, we could never have made it as we did," Richardson told The Hollywood Reporter.
From BBC • Mar. 7, 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
This could have been the forerunner of the kind of chronometer that would have been accurate and dependable enough to determine longitude at sea, and Hooke claimed to have worked out how to achieve this.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
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.
