forerunner

noun/ˈfɔrˌrʌnər/

Frequency rank: #13,169 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

a person or thing that comes before and signals the arrival of something else; a predecessor or precursor.

Illustration for the English word “forerunner”

Example sentence

The steam engine was considered the forerunner of the modern locomotive.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 13,101–13,200