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. [1913 Webster]
"Whither the forerunner in for us entered, even Jesus." [1913 Webster]

"My elder brothers, my forerunners, came." [1913 Webster]
A predecessor; an ancestor. Shak. [1913 Webster]
A piece of rag terminating the log line. [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

forerunner, n.
1 a predecessor.
2 an advance messenger.

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THESAURUS

forerunner

Gabriel, Mahdi, advertisement, advertiser, ancestor, announcement, announcer, antecedent, augury, author, avant-garde, bell cow, bell mare, bellwether, born leader, buccinator, buccinator novi temporis, bushwhacker, charismatic leader, choirmaster, choragus, coach, conductor, coryphaeus, duce, envoy, evangel, evangelist, example, exemplar, explorer, file leader, forebear, forefather, foregoer, foreshadow, foreshadower, foretoken, forewarning, front runner, frontiersman, fugleman, groundbreaker, guide, harbinger, herald, herald angel, initiator, innovator, inspired leader, instructor, lead runner, leader, leader of men, mark, mentor, messenger, messiah, model, omen, originator, outrider, pacemaker, pacesetter, pathfinder, pattern, pioneer, point, portent, precedent, precentor, precursor, predecessor, premise, premonition, premonitor, preparationist, preparator, preparer, presage, presager, progenitor, prognostic, prototype, ringleader, scout, sign, standard-bearer, stormy petrel, symphonic conductor, symptom, teacher, token, torchbearer, trailblazer, trailbreaker, trainer, vanguard, vaunt-courier, voortrekker, warning

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ROGET THESAURUS

forerunner

Precursor

N precursor, antecedent, precedent, predecessor, forerunner, vancourier, avant-coureur, pioneer, prodrome, prodromos, prodromus, outrider, leader, bellwether, herald, harbinger, foreboding, dawn, avant-courier, avant-garde, bellmare, forelooper, foreloper, stalking-horse, voorlooper, voortrekker, prelude, preamble, preface, prologue, foreword, avant-propos, protasis, proemium, prolusion, proem, prolepsis, prolegomena, prefix, introduction, heading, frontispiece, groundwork, preparation, overture, exordium, symphony, premises, prefigurement, omen, precursory, prelusive, prelusory, preludious, proemial, introductory, prefatory, prodromous, inaugural, preliminary, precedent, a precedent embalms a principle.

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