PRECURSORS Synonyms: 54 Similar and Opposite Words

precursors

noun

plural of precursor

as in forerunners

one that announces or indicates the later arrival of another 18th-century lyric poets like Robert Burns were precursors of the Romantics

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in ancestors

something belonging to an earlier time from which something else was later developed a precursor of the modern eggplant

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 precursors The coal and steel organization was the first among European institutions that were precursors to what eventually became the European Union. — ABC News, 28 Sep. 2026 Depots could reconstitute expended stocks on site, as quickly as mineral precursors can be extracted and processed. — Dan Driscoll, Foreign Affairs, 28 Sep. 2026 In June, the co-founder of the citizen watchdog group, DeFlock Idaho, Tyler Cain, filed a pair of tort claims against the cities of Caldwell and Wilder — civil claims which act as possible precursors to lawsuits. — Idaho Statesman, 20 Sep. 2026 The regulations were intended to reduce air pollution and acid rain precursors mainly from trucks and buses. — Jamie Webster, The Conversation, 17 Sep. 2026 This event, which resulted in the death of enslaver Edward Gorsuch, heightened tensions between the North and South and was one of the many precursors to the American Civil War. — Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com, 11 Sep. 2026 Two other groups received Lasker Awards, which are often precursors for Nobel Prizes. — O. Rose Broderick, STAT, 10 Sep. 2026 These signs can be precursors to dysfunction and disease, per the researchers, including heart failure and atrial fibrillation (commonly known as AFib). — Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2026 The Voyager launched Monday will make the closest approach to Saturn’s seventh moon, Titan — which has an atmosphere perhaps as dense as Earth’s and a surface that could be littered with the organic precursors of life. — Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 7 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for precursors

Noun

Margaret and Alice are the forerunners of Lucy and Ethel, and Shakespeare’s comedy, written expressly to entertain, gives us a sense of what an Elizabethan-era situation comedy might look like.

— Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026
One of the forerunners today in Madeira and the Azores is António Maçanita from Azores Wine Company.

— Forbes.com, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026

Definition of forerunners

Noun

By remaining involved in the businesses their ancestors began, these families have preserved and expanded their wealth across multiple generations while also shaping the American business landscape.

— Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2026
John Spencer, at the time heir to the Spencer earldom and styled as Viscount Althorp, was two years older than Queen Elizabeth II and descended from a long line of ancestors who served the British crown.

— Diego Parrado, Vanity Fair, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of ancestors

Noun

Culture and History Crows and ravens have similarly eerie reputations as spooky harbingers of death or danger.

— Blythe Copeland, Martha Stewart, 31 Aug. 2026
Our results, just published in the journal Science, suggest that the 1982-83 and 1997-98 El Niños – two of the strongest in recent memory – may be harbingers of more extreme events to come as the planet warms.

— Julia Cole, The Conversation, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of harbingers

Noun

In years past, department statistics showed at least a third of all police shootings involved someone with obvious signs of emotional distress.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 25 Sep. 2026
Presuming Ausar signs, Miami will have 21 players under contract, the most a team can carry during training camp.

— Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of signs

Noun

The project heralds from Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the four co-directors behind 2025 Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.

— Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 24 Aug. 2026
Now Pedicularis had emerged as one of the first heralds of the Arctic summer, its stems wrapped in grayish, silky hairs that protect it like a warm winter coat.

— Denise Hruby, Miami Herald, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of heralds

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precursor

precursors

precursory

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“Precursors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/precursors. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of precursors

noun

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