'Precursor' definitions:
Definition of 'precursor'
(from WordNet)
noun
A substance from which another substance is formed (especially by a metabolic reaction)
noun
A person who goes before or announces the coming of another [syn: precursor, forerunner]
noun
Something that precedes and indicates the approach of something or someone [syn: harbinger, forerunner, predecessor, herald, precursor]
Definition of 'Precursor'
From: GCIDE
- Precursor \Pre*cur"sor\, n. [L. praecursor, fr. praecurrere to run before; prae before + currere to run. See Course.] One who, or that which, precedes an event, and indicates its approach; a forerunner; a harbinger. [1913 Webster]
- Evil thoughts are the invisible, airy precursors of all the storms and tempests of the soul. --Buckminster. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: Predecessor; forerunner; harbinger; messenger; omen; sign. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'precursor'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- advance guard,
- agent,
- airhead,
- alterant,
- alterative,
- alterer,
- ancestor,
- ancestors,
- announcer,
- antecedence,
- antecedency,
- antecedent,
- anteposition,
- anteriority,
- apprentice,
- architect,
- artificer,
- artist,
- author,
- avant-garde,
- battle line,
- beachhead,
- begetter,
- beginner,
- bridgehead,
- buccinator novi temporis,
- builder,
- catalyst,
- catalytic agent,
- colonial,
- colonist,
- colonizer,
- conceiver,
- constructor,
- craftsman,
- creator,
- danger sign,
- designer,
- deviser,
- discoverer,
- dominion,
- early bird,
- early comer,
- early riser,
- early symptom,
- effector,
- engenderer,
- engineer,
- executor,
- executrix,
- falling barometer,
- farthest outpost,
- father,
- ferment,
- first arrival,
- first line,
- forefront,
- foregoer,
- foregoing,
- forerunner,
- foreshadower,
- founder,
- front,
- front line,
- front position,
- front rank,
- front-runner,
- gathering clouds,
- generator,
- grower,
- harbinger,
- heading,
- herald,
- high sign,
- homesteader,
- immigrant,
- inaugurator,
- industrialist,
- initiator,
- innovationist,
- innovator,
- instigator,
- institutor,
- introducer,
- inventor,
- journeyman,
- le pas,
- leading,
- leaven,
- line,
- maker,
- manufacturer,
- master,
- master craftsman,
- messenger,
- modificator,
- modifier,
- mother,
- nester,
- omen,
- organizer,
- originator,
- outguard,
- outpost,
- outrider,
- past master,
- pioneer,
- planner,
- planter,
- point,
- precedence,
- precedency,
- precedent,
- preceding,
- precession,
- predecessor,
- preference,
- prefixation,
- preliminary sign,
- prelude,
- premise,
- premonitor,
- premonitory sign,
- premonitory symptom,
- presager,
- prime mover,
- priority,
- prodroma,
- prodrome,
- producer,
- prothesis,
- prototype,
- quarantine flag,
- railhead,
- raiser,
- realizer,
- red flag,
- red light,
- scout,
- settler,
- shaper,
- sire,
- skull and crossbones,
- smith,
- sooner,
- spearhead,
- squatter,
- storm petrel,
- stormy petrel,
- superiority,
- symptom,
- the lead,
- thundercloud,
- thunderhead,
- top priority,
- transformer,
- transmogrifier,
- urgency,
- van,
- vanguard,
- warning sign,
- warning signal,
- wright,
- yeast,
- yellow flag,
- yellow jack