forerunner

American  

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

noun

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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Etymology

Origin of forerunner

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

Example Sentences

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

Brought online with the Cuban missile crisis, the system linked remote computers via telephone lines, a forerunner to the internet.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025

A few years later, McKean made an appearance on “Mr. Show,” as a condescending law professor, a forerunner of Chuck McGill, while Odenkirk’s character on that episode has a touch of Jimmy McGill’s DNA.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2025

Ms Nash began her career at the age of 21 with Eastern Airlines, the forerunner of American Airlines, working on its shuttle flight between Washington DC, where she lived, and Boston.

From BBC • May 27, 2024

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

Related Words

• precursor