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forerunner

noun

Etymology

From Middle English forrenner, foreriner. Calque of Latin praecursor (“one who runs before, a forerunner”). Equivalent to fore- + runner and/or forerun + -er.

  1. calqued from praecursor
  2. inherited from forrenner

Definitions

  1. A runner at the front or ahead.

  2. By extension, a non-competitor who leads out the competitors on to the circuit, or who…

    By extension, a non-competitor who leads out the competitors on to the circuit, or who runs/rides the course prior to competitor trials, usually testing or checking the way.

  3. A precursor or harbinger, a warning ahead.

    • Acute infections of the female urethra, which are the forerunners of chronic infections, may be initiated by a number of conditions: Traumatism due to difficult labor, presence of foreign bodies such as calculi, […]
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. A forebear, an ancestor, a predecessor.

      • Bakelite is a forerunner of today's plastics.

    2. A postage stamp used in the time before a region or area issues stamps of its own.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for forerunner. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA