forerunners

IPA/ˈfɔːˌrʌn.ər/
KK[fˈɔrˌʌnɚz]IPA/ˈfɔːrˌrʌn.ɚ/

forerunners — noun

  • forerunnerssingular
  • forerunnersesplural

1. A forerunner is someone or something that appears earlier than others of its kin

1.nounB2
Definition

A forerunner is someone or something that appears earlier than others of its kind and signals what is coming next.

Example

Mira's short film was a forerunner of her later award-winning features.

forerunner + of: earlier creative work pointing to later success

The sharp drop in orders was a forerunner of the factory's closure.

Common collocations
  • forerunner of
  • early forerunner
  • direct forerunner
  • immediate forerunner
Synonyms
  • precursor

    more formal; common in science and technology

  • harbinger

    literary; specifically a sign of something coming, often negative

  • herald

    often refers to a person announcing something; more dramatic in tone

  • predecessor

    simply something that came before, without the hint of signalling the future

Antonyms
  • successor

    the person or thing that follows and replaces

  • follower

    something that comes after in sequence

Grammar Patterns

forerunner + of

Usage Note

Forerunner is almost always followed by 'of' and the thing that comes later. It is more common in formal and academic writing than in everyday speech.

Common Mistakes

She was a forerunner for modern dance.
She was a forerunner of modern dance.
'forerunner' takes 'of', not 'for'.
The internet was the forerunner.' (incomplete)
The early internet was a forerunner of today's connected world.
always name what the forerunner points toward.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Forerunner and precursor both describe something that comes before and points to what follows, but precursor is more formal and widely used in scientific contexts (a precursor chemical, a precursor to the modern computer). Harbinger is strongly literary and often carries a sense of warning or doom — spring flowers are a harbinger of warmer weather, but more often a harbinger signals something bad. Herald, like harbinger, can be a person and suggests an official announcement: a herald proclaimed the king's arrival. Predecessor is the most neutral of the four; it simply names what came before without implying that it pointed to the future — your predecessor at a job may have left no hint of what you would face.

precursorharbinger ↗herald ↗predecessor ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • forerunner of modern X

Adverbs

  • widely regarded as a forerunner

Phrases

  • a forerunner of things to come

Prepositions

  • forerunner of
  • forerunner to

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Forerunner combines the Old English prefix 'fore-' (meaning 'before') with 'runner.' It first appeared in the 1300s for a servant who ran ahead of a noble's party to announce their arrival — literally 'one who runs before.' By the 1500s it had broadened to describe anything that comes before and signals what will follow, and today it is used for early versions of inventions, warning signs of events, and people whose work paved the way for later achievements.

First known use

12th century

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1