as in forerunner
something belonging to an earlier time from which something else was later developed
the once-ubiquitous typewriter was the predecessor of today's electronic keyboard
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Recent Examples of predecessor
Morton was hired last offseason to take over for the departing Ben Johnson, now the coach of the Chicago Bears, and failed to meet the standard set by his predecessor.
—
Arkansas Online, 7 Jan. 2026
Fleming and Andreeva were part of the original editorial team at Deadline alongside founder Nikki Finke, joining in early 2010 after the site’s acquisition by Penske Media Corporation predecessor MMC.
—The Deadline Team, Deadline, 7 Jan. 2026
Whatever the issues between Chelsea and his predecessor, Enzo Maresca, there’s no denying the Italian kept results at Stamford Bridge on an even keel.
—Phil Hay, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
Bonsignore’s two predecessors as commissioner didn’t serve as firefighters, either.
—Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for predecessor
Arkansas Online, 7 Jan. 2026
Fleming and Andreeva were part of the original editorial team at Deadline alongside founder Nikki Finke, joining in early 2010 after the site’s acquisition by Penske Media Corporation predecessor MMC.
—The Deadline Team, Deadline, 7 Jan. 2026
Whatever the issues between Chelsea and his predecessor, Enzo Maresca, there’s no denying the Italian kept results at Stamford Bridge on an even keel.
—Phil Hay, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
Bonsignore’s two predecessors as commissioner didn’t serve as firefighters, either.
—Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for predecessor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predecessor
Noun
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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
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The League of Nations was the forerunner to the UN and is famous among historians for its formation after the wreckage of World War I and its almost immediate failure to prevent the rise of authoritarianism in the 1930s that gave way to World War II.—
Sasha Rogelberg,
Fortune,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The issue is also deeply personal for Hall—his tribal council has granted and rescinded his own enrollment, all based on evolving interpretations of old documents about an ancestor.—
David Treuer,
The Atlantic,
13 Jan. 2026
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The results show that the earliest lizard ancestors almost certainly lacked the armor altogether, with the trait remaining absent for tens of millions of years after lizards first evolved.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The vast majority of these deaths are caused by illicit fentanyl which experts report is typically synthesized in Mexico from precursor chemicals provided by Chinese operatives and brought into the United States via vehicles passing through official ports of entry.—
Charles LeBaron,
Time,
13 Jan. 2026
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The Golden Globes are a great precursor to what is to come there.—
Noelle Lilley,
CBS News,
13 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Predecessor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predecessor. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
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