forerunner

Definition

A runner at the front or ahead.

Etymology

From Middle English forrenner, foreriner. Calque of Latin praecursor (“one who runs before, a forerunner”). Equivalent to fore- + runner and/or forerun + -er.

Example Sentences

• "How meek and shrunken did that haughty Tarmac become as it slunk by the wide circle of asphalt of the yellow sort, that was loosely strewn before the great iron gates of Lady Hall as a forerunner of the consideration that awaited the guests of Rupert, Earl of Kare, […]."
• "Acute infections of the female urethra, which are the forerunners of chronic infections, may be initiated by a number of conditions: Traumatism due to difficult labor, presence of foreign bodies such as calculi, […]"
• "On December 22, 1974, a swarm of earthquakes, the largest event being of magnitude 4.8, occurred 70 km northeast of Haicheng. All these phenomena were considered the forerunners of the major event. Thus, in January 1975, another SSB conference offered a short-term prediction that an earthquake of magnitude 5.5–6 would occur in the Yingkou-Luda-Tantung area in the first six months of 1975 (HESD, 1977)."