forerunner

1.名詞B2

釋義

A person, thing, or event that comes before another of the same general type and either paves the way for its arrival or gives an early warning that it is coming.

例句

Germany's Green party was said to be the forerunner of environmental parties throughout Europe.

forerunner of + [type of organisation] for early model

The drop in share prices in March was a forerunner of the financial crash that followed in June.

forerunner of + [event] as warning sign

同義詞

precursor
Very close in meaning, but 'precursor' often sounds more technical or scientific, while 'forerunner' is more general.
harbinger
Only covers the 'warning sign' meaning, not the 'early model' meaning; tends to be literary or formal.
herald
Suggests something that actively announces a coming event; can be a person or thing, but is less common in everyday speech.

反義詞

follower
A person or thing that comes after and continues what the forerunner started.
successor
The person or thing that takes over after a forerunner has prepared the way.

文法句型

forerunner + of + noun phrase

用法筆記

Forerunner can describe either a person or thing that influences later developments (the 'pioneer' meaning) or an event that signals something about to happen (the 'warning' meaning). The context and the noun that follows 'of' make the intended sense clear.

常見錯誤

❌The Wright brothers' plane was the forerunner of all modern airplanes.

✅The Wright brothers' plane was the forerunner of all modern aircraft.

💡'Forerunner' is correct with inventions that paved the way; just replace the informal 'airplane' with 'aircraft' if writing formally.

❌The warm weather was a forerunner that spring had arrived.

✅The warm weather was a forerunner of the spring season.

💡Use 'forerunner of + noun', not 'forerunner that + clause'.

forerunner — noun

1. A person, thing, or event that comes before another of the same general type and

文法句型

用法筆記

常見錯誤