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
My wretchedness unto a row of pins, They will talk of state, for every one doth so Against a change: woe is forerun with woe.
From King Richard II by Shakespeare, William
He called to his mind the various portents and prophecies which had forerun their present danger.
From The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, May 1844 Volume 23, Number 5 by Clark, Lewis Gaylord
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
It cannot forerun the limitations of its day, nor anticipate the conquests and common possessions of the future.
From Spenser by Church, R. W. (Richard William)
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
An hour of this passed, when the vibrations of feet in contact with the ground foreran the one who approached.
From White Fang by London, Jack
When the wind backed around into the northeast, as it had on this occasion, it foreran a gale of more than usual power and of more than twenty-four hours' duration.
From Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper by Cooper, James A.
He foreran the societies which insure against accident, and would guarantee whole bones for a year or a lifetime, according to the insurer's purse or fancy.
From Julia And Her Romeo: A Chronicle Of Castle Barfield From "Schwartz" by David Christie Murray by Murray, David Christie
Faintly on this other hand the voices of the ladies returning from the garden foreran them.
From Kincaid's Battery by Kimball, Alonzo
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
I am of opinion, were all his voluminous centuries of fabulous relations compiled, they would vye in number with the Iliads of many forerunning ages.
From Microcosmography or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters by Earle, John
Years out of mind the adherents of the leading political parties had mingled sociably before a non-partisan bulletin board in the courthouse, much as hostile camps fraternize in the truce forerunning peace.
From The Henchman by Luther, Mark Lee
"We hear and we obey," answered they and turning back to their braves did his bidding and spread themselves about the sides of the valley in the twilight forerunning the dawn.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
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.
