as in forerunners
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 predecessors
Mitski’s 2026 album and live show both differ in interesting ways from their immediate predecessors.
—
Chris Willman, Variety, 6 Apr. 2026
The crew’s emotions on the eve of Easter Sunday had echoed those of their predecessors on Apollo 8, who had read from the biblical book of Genesis while orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve in 1968.
—Lee Billings, Scientific American, 6 Apr. 2026
New technologies rarely eliminate their predecessors outright.
—Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 6 Apr. 2026
Maul – Shadow Lord has more in common with Andor than with its cartoon predecessors in tone, and that's a lofty compliment.
—Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 6 Apr. 2026
Her two predecessors both had their contracts terminated early by the county’s school board.
—Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 6 Apr. 2026
Both are relatively new to the job, left to answer for their predecessors.
—Jon Wertheim, CBS News, 5 Apr. 2026
Bondi's public embrace of the president, however, marked a sharp departure from her predecessors, who generally took pains to maintain an arm's-length distance from the White House to protect the impartiality of investigations and prosecutions.
—Arkansas Online, 3 Apr. 2026
Samsung Smartphone Deal The Galaxy Z Fold7 redefines the foldable experience by becoming both wider and slimmer than its predecessors, and providing 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage to support its massive 8-inch main screen.
—Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 31 Mar. 2026
Chris Willman, Variety, 6 Apr. 2026
The crew’s emotions on the eve of Easter Sunday had echoed those of their predecessors on Apollo 8, who had read from the biblical book of Genesis while orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve in 1968.
—Lee Billings, Scientific American, 6 Apr. 2026
New technologies rarely eliminate their predecessors outright.
—Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 6 Apr. 2026
Maul – Shadow Lord has more in common with Andor than with its cartoon predecessors in tone, and that's a lofty compliment.
—Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 6 Apr. 2026
Her two predecessors both had their contracts terminated early by the county’s school board.
—Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 6 Apr. 2026
Both are relatively new to the job, left to answer for their predecessors.
—Jon Wertheim, CBS News, 5 Apr. 2026
Bondi's public embrace of the president, however, marked a sharp departure from her predecessors, who generally took pains to maintain an arm's-length distance from the White House to protect the impartiality of investigations and prosecutions.
—Arkansas Online, 3 Apr. 2026
Samsung Smartphone Deal The Galaxy Z Fold7 redefines the foldable experience by becoming both wider and slimmer than its predecessors, and providing 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage to support its massive 8-inch main screen.
—Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 31 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predecessors
Noun
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The Norwegian ended his season before the Olympics to further recover from a shoulder injury, but attended the finals as one of the forerunners, who test a course shortly before a race starts.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
22 Mar. 2026
-
These were the forerunners of today’s robots.—
Munis Raza,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The find provides the first direct fossil evidence that early mammal ancestors laid eggs.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Apr. 2026
-
But did the earliest ancestors of mammals also reproduce through eggs?—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In March, state media reported that China arrested seven people in an operation targeting traffickers of fentanyl precursors, according to the Reuters news agency.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Such engravings, which depict the wackily maximalist style à la mode, including oodles of feathers and furbelows, were, in essence, early precursors to modern fashion magazines.—
Rachel Syme,
New Yorker,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Predecessors.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predecessors. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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