precursor

[pri-kur-ser, pree-kur-]

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noun

a person or thing that precedes, as in a job, a method, etc.; predecessor.

a person, animal, or thing that goes before and indicates the approach of someone or something else; harbinger: The first robin is a precursor of spring.

Chemistry, Biochemistry. a chemical that is transformed into another compound, as in the course of a chemical reaction, and therefore precedes that compound in the synthetic pathway: Cholesterol is a precursor of testosterone.

Biology. a cell or tissue that gives rise to a variant, specialized, or more mature form.

Origin of precursor

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin praecursor forerunner. See pre-, cursor

Synonyms for precursor

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1. forerunner. 2. herald.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for precursors

forerunner, harbinger, prototype, herald, usher, vanguard, messenger, outrider, predecessor, antecedent, parent, forebear, pioneer, originator, ancestor, original, antecessor

Examples from the Web for precursors

Contemporary Examples of precursors

It might actually be that there are no precursors; that nothing like this has happened before.
The Tripwire on Flight 370
Clive Irving
March 17, 2014
While a lot more information is needed before investigators can be sure of the cause, there are precursors that suggest a pattern.
Behind the Buffalo Crash
Clive Irving
February 13, 2009

Historical Examples of precursors

I only maintain that for me these two things are invariably the precursors of misfortune.
Seen and Unseen
E. Katharine Bates
In all these signs Costal recognised the precursors of a storm.
The Tiger Hunter
Mayne Reid
But it is time to mention some of the precursors of nihilism.
Russia: Its People and Its Literature
Emilia Pardo Bazán
Lovel did, in fact, run a much greater risk than any of his precursors.
The Antiquary, Complete
Sir Walter Scott
The "mind cure" people might adopt him as one of their precursors.
Our Hundred Days in Europe
Oliver Wendell Holmes

British Dictionary definitions for precursors

precursor

noun

a person or thing that precedes and shows or announces someone or something to come; harbinger

a predecessor or forerunner

a chemical substance that gives rise to another more important substance

Word Origin for precursor

C16: from Latin praecursor one who runs in front, from praecurrere, from prae in front + currere to run

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for precursors

precursor

early 15c., from Middle French precurseur and directly from Latin praecursor "forerunner," agent noun from past participle stem of praecurrere, from prae "before" (see pre-) + currere "to run" (see current (adj.)). Related: Precursory.

precursors in Medicine

precursor

[prĭ-kûr′sər, prē′kûr′sər]

n.

One that precedes and indicates something to come.

One that precedes another; a forerunner or predecessor.

A biochemical substance, such as an intermediate compound in a chain of enzymatic reactions, that gives rise to a more stable or definitive product.