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
  • The show is not yet as fine-tuned as its predecessor; some dialogue could use less theatrical melodrama and characterizations could be tightened, but staging is stellar.
    — Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Like that of his predecessors, João Havelange and Sepp Blatter, Infantino is seeking to rally his core supporters in his traditional power base of Africa.
    — Aleks Klosok, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of predecessor
Noun
  • Those with the funds to file a court case, essentially suing the Italian state for sexism against their female ancestors, are likely to win, but legal action is lengthy and costly.
    — Julia Buckley, CNN Money, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Therefore, this benefit must reach everyone, not only those whose ancestors match the reference sets from past decades.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of ancestor
Noun
  • So perhaps a certain signaling molecule preferentially accumulates more on one side of a neural progenitor cell than the other.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 13 July 2026
  • Yet that same year, Brynjolfsson got access to GPT-3, a progenitor of ChatGPT.
    — Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, 29 June 2026
Definition of progenitor
Noun
  • Authorities have yet to determine how the teenager gained access to the weapon, a handgun that police said belonged to his grandfather.
    — Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Milinsky, a 79-year-old Pompano Beach grandfather, was the second person in Florida to enroll in treatment with Kisunla, an anti-amyloid medication developed by Eli Lilly.
    — Lauren Pastrana, CBS News, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of grandfather
Noun
  • Wulf pays overdue homage to an intellectual titan and forefather of linguistics and natural history.
    — Hamilton Cain, Time, 7 July 2026
  • But the truth is that our forefathers were sufficiently individualistic to be iconoclastic.
    — Colin Fleming, New York Daily News, 4 July 2026
Definition of forefather
Noun
  • Some of his forebears emigrated before the genocide; others barely got out.
    — Sarah Larson, New Yorker, 19 July 2026
  • Over the years, a number of prominent mathematicians tried to prove this guess of their forebears.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 14 July 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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anteceding
antecessor
antecessors
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“Antecessor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/antecessor. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

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