FORERUNNERS Synonyms: 54 Similar and Opposite Words

forerunners

noun

plural of forerunner

as in precursors

one that announces or indicates the later arrival of another the return of the swallows is traditionally regarded as a forerunner of spring

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in ancestors

something belonging to an earlier time from which something else was later developed enjoyed the demonstration of the simple hand loom that was the forerunner of today's computer-controlled looms

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 forerunners These were the forerunners of today’s robots. —

Munis Raza, Interesting Engineering, 9 Mar. 2026 And these projects may just be the forerunners. —

Andy Sheehan, CBS News, 17 Feb. 2026 With little support for the WHO among Republicans — who control both the House and the Senate — there has been no push from Congress to hold the country to the provision set out by their forerunners. —

Helen Branswell, STAT, 21 Jan. 2026 Like these forerunners, the pleasures of Knight’s A Thousand Blows, which premiered all six episodes of its second season on Hulu Friday, lies in looking back on that thin sliver of time, about 15 years ago, when anachronistic old-timey crime was in vogue. —

Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2026 The primacy of a central meeting space can be traced to the Greek Empire with the agora, among other forerunners. —

Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 2025 Compared to their forerunners in the tsarist era, with their party congresses held abroad, their executive committees, and their active recruitment in imperial Russia’s universities, Soviet dissidents remained a comparatively small and informal conglomeration of activists. —

Benjamin Nathans september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for forerunners

Noun

Longmore noted that some of the complex molecules are thought to be precursors to amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

— Asuka Koda, CNN Money, 5 Mar. 2026
Just as most precursors have done, the PGA gave PTA and his fellow producers Adam Somner and Sara Murphy their Best Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures Award.

— Joe Reid, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2026