Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that precedes, as in time; a predecessor.
- n. An ancestor; a forebear.
- n. One that comes before and indicates the approach of another; a harbinger.
- n. A warning sign or symptom.
- n. Sports One who skis the course before the beginning of a race.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who or that which foreruns; an annunciator; a harbinger: as, John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ.
- n. An ancestor or predecessor.
- n. A prognostic; a premonitory token; a sign foreshowing something to follow: as, popular tumults are the forerunners of revolution.
- n. Nautical, a piece of bunting or other material inserted in a log-line to mark the point at which the glass must be turned.
Wiktionary
- n. a runner at the front or ahead
- n. a precursor or harbinger, a warning ahead
- n. a forebear, an ancestor, a predecessor
- n. philately a postage stamp used in the time before a region or area issues stamps of its own
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A messenger sent before to give notice of the approach of others; a harbinger; a sign foreshowing something; a prognostic.
- n. obsolete A predecessor; an ancestor.
- n. (Naut.) A piece of rag terminating the log line.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who goes before or announces the coming of another
- n. something that precedes and indicates the approach of something or someone
- n. anything that precedes something similar in time
Etymologies
- fore + runner (Wiktionary)
Examples
“For me I use nokia sports tracker and my N95 8gb with its GPS for location, speed etc, but a garmin forerunner for heart rate.”
Five Best Exercise Planning And Tracking Tools | Lifehacker Australia
“Just launched, the new Francis collection is inspired by the Biedermeier style 1850s whose geometric shape is often described as the forerunner of modern furniture.”
“Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)
“The Iron Heel by Jack London (1907) has been described as a forerunner to the “soft” science fiction of the 1960s and 70s.”
The History of Science Fiction: 1900 - 1909 | Solar Flare: Science Fiction News
““Red Eyebrows”, a contemporary agrarian rebel group sometimes described as the forerunner of secret societies and underworld gangs such as the Triads.”
“A forerunner is the Gold Class Cinema that Village Roadshow opened in Australia in 2000.”
“But the greatest of modern Dutch authors, and the one who may be termed the forerunner of the renaissance of 1880, was E. Douwes Dekker, who died thirteen years ago.”
“In that sense Kant's famous _Critique of the Pure Reason_ may be described as the forerunner of the systematic agnosticism which is set forth in the _First Principles_ of Mr. Spencer.”
Morality as a Religion An exposition of some first principles
“In sledging over wide, monotonous wastes with dogs as the motive power, it is necessary to have a forerunner, that is, somebody to go ahead and point the way, otherwise the dogs will run aimlessly about.”
The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
“This quilt may be termed a forerunner of the vast array of pieced and patched washable quilts belonging to the nineteenth century.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘forerunner’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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SPOR - Olympic glossary
hurdle, tempo, consortium, caption, mutual understanding, jury, radio, javelin, extra time, boxing, Lander, European and 521 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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people (good)
nouns for good people / words that describe good people.
go to the bad people list
( people, character, descriptor, noun )philanthropist, angel, environmentalist, activist, advocate, volunteer, hero, parent, friend, virtuoso, gentleman, helper and 62 more...
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The Copied
ur-, progenitor, precursor, prototype, forerunner, template, model, version 1.0, alpha, mold, die, standard and 6 more...
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Fore!
That great old English prefix, quaint almost by default!
foredoom, forename, foretoken, foremast, forebear, foresee, forecastle, forestay, foreskin, foretell, foreshadow, foreclose and 79 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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complicated words
mire, mirth, misapplication, reluctant, aghast, surreptitiously, wares, abashed, leap, dash, peer, tangle and 107 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Words from The Brothers Karamazov
Vocabulary words.
sententiously, mutton, eunuch, anathema, casuistry, imperturbably, forerunner, birch, torpor, precipice, bravado, insolent and 74 more...
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