forerunners

noun

plural of forerunner
1
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
2
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 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, 20 July 2026 Even the Hammurabi Code, a set of laws created by the sixth Babylonian king in approximately 1760 bce, established forerunners of today’s interest rate and minimum wage laws. — Chris Roush, Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Apr. 2026 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, 22 Mar. 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forerunners
  1. precursors
  2. ancestors
  3. harbingers
  4. predecessors
  5. heralds
  6. angels
  7. outriders
  8. signs
Noun
  • Ng, who is Jo Henderson’s oncologist, noted that her previous research found that women who ate more ultraprocessed foods had a higher risk of colon polyps that can be precursors to cancer.
    — Kaitlin Sullivan, NBC news, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The coal and steel organization was the first among European institutions that were precursors to what eventually became the European Union.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of precursors
Noun
  • The discovery led to a complete redesign of the project, shifting the hotel inland to preserve the sacred site and honor the ancestors who remain there.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Oct. 2026
  • The small, troubled Trask family represents isolation, generational trauma and dysfunctional cycles in contrast to the large, loving and morally grounded Hamilton family, who are modeled after Steinbeck’s own maternal ancestors.
    — Senior Television, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of ancestors
Noun
  • Related What were once blips on the modern music timeline now feel like harbingers of things to come for 2027.
    — Leila Cobo, Billboard, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Culture and History Crows and ravens have similarly eerie reputations as spooky harbingers of death or danger.
    — Blythe Copeland, Martha Stewart, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of harbingers
Noun
  • Much of coaching football is taking ideas from your predecessors and adopting them as your own with a personal twist.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Williams and James entered the season under a lot of scrutiny given the impact their predecessors, Love and Jadarian Price, made last season on the Notre Dame offense.
    — Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of predecessors
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
Noun
  • The woman understood from her hasty reading that perhaps all miracles could be attributed to saints and angels if they were experienced by a believer.
    — Ellen O’Connell Whittet, Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Every nightfall is different — different seasonal colors, angels, weather, celestial glows, grasses and shadows.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of angels
Noun
  • His deputies and outriders are not quite so deft.
    — Sam Knight, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2025
  • Churchill Downs outriders, jockey agents, jockeys Florent Geroux and Julian Leperoux, as well as members of Lukas' barn staff also sat in the crowd.
    — Stephanie Kuzydym, Louisville Courier Journal, 19 Aug. 2025
Definition of outriders
Noun
  • Russia invaded its neighbor more than 4 ½ years ago, and there are no concrete signs that a peace settlement might be possible.
    — HANNA ARHIROVA, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Marylanders could be forgiven for believing the tide is running in favor of gerrymandering, but there are encouraging signs that the worst is over, and a better approach can prevail.
    — Colin Pascal, Washington Post, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of signs

Browse Nearby Words

forerunner
forerunners
forerunning
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Cite this Entry

“Forerunners.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forerunners. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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