antecessor

noun

Definition of antecessornext
as in predecessor

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of antecessor Like Homo antecessor, the Casablanca fossils have a mix of characteristics from Homo erectus, ourselves and our cousins. — CBS News, 8 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for antecessor
  1. predecessor
  2. ancestor
  3. progenitor
  4. grandfather
  5. forefather
  6. forebear
  7. forebearer
Noun
  • Much of coaching football is taking ideas from your predecessors and adopting them as your own with a personal twist.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Williams and James entered the season under a lot of scrutiny given the impact their predecessors, Love and Jadarian Price, made last season on the Notre Dame offense.
    — Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of predecessor
Noun
  • The discovery led to a complete redesign of the project, shifting the hotel inland to preserve the sacred site and honor the ancestors who remain there.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Oct. 2026
  • The small, troubled Trask family represents isolation, generational trauma and dysfunctional cycles in contrast to the large, loving and morally grounded Hamilton family, who are modeled after Steinbeck’s own maternal ancestors.
    — Senior Television, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of ancestor
Noun
  • Featuring cantilevered balconies and roofs, Wright later described the home as a progenitor to Fallingwater.
    — Katherine McLaughlin, Architectural Digest, 29 Sep. 2026
  • One of those daughters was the magical Maria, progenitor of Sally, Gillian, Kylie, and Antonia’s bloodline.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of progenitor
Noun
  • The job-for-life that Fink remembers looked a lot like the one Farley went on to describe about his own grandfather, who worked for Ford.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2026
  • But where John Steinbeck’s novel and the 1955 film made by Kazan’s grandfather Elia Kazan render her as a cipher, the embodiment of an unknowable evil, the Netflix version gives her far more texture and context.
    — Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of grandfather
Noun
  • Many progressives and political experts cite Sanders, the Senate's only democratic socialist member, as the forefather of the movement that has toppled several longtime Democratic incumbents across the nation this year.
    — Phillip M. Bailey, USA Today, 16 Aug. 2026
  • Wulf pays overdue homage to an intellectual titan and forefather of linguistics and natural history.
    — Hamilton Cain, Time, 7 July 2026
Definition of forefather
Noun
  • Plant paid special attention to forebears and contemporaries.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Harking back to its Jurassic forbear, The End of Oak Street channels everyone's favorite '80s Amblin classics, but with a far more vicious bite.
    — Megan McCluskey, Time, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of forebear
Noun
  • Mike Brown said the digital driver license is the forebearer of discriminating against the unvaccinated.
    — Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Feb. 2022
  • If successful, The Mayflower Autonomous Ship, named in honor of its famous nautical forebearer and known as MAS for short, will be the first such trans-Atlantic voyage by an autonomous vessel.
    — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2021
Definition of forebearer

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antecessor
antecessors
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Cite this Entry

“Antecessor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/antecessor. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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