forerunner Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person who goes before or announces the coming of another
    precursor.
  2. noun something that precedes and indicates the approach of something or someone
    predecessor; herald; harbinger; precursor.
  3. noun anything that precedes something similar in time
    antecedent.
    • phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience

WordNet

Fore*run"ner noun
Definitions
  1. A messenger sent before to give notice of the approach of others; a harbinger; a sign foreshowing something; a prognostic; as, the forerunner of a fever.
    Whither the forerunner in for us entered, even Jesus. Heb. vi. 20.
    My elder brothers, my forerunners, came. Dryden.
  2. A predecessor; an ancestor. Obs. Shak.
  3. (Naut.) A piece of rag terminating the log line.

Webster 1913