noun
1.
one that goes before and in some way announces the coming of another
a coma is often a forerunner of death
Synonyms: harbinger, herald, outrider, precursor
Related Word: anticipator; advertiser, announcer; advertisement, announcement, augury, foretoken, omen, portent, presage, prognostic; forewarning, warning; mark, sign, symptom, token; foreshadow
2.
one belonging to an early developmental period of something contemporary or fully developed
the water-driven dynamo that was a forerunner of present-day giant atomic power plants
Synonyms: ancestor, antecedent, antecessor, foregoer, precursor, predecessor, prototype
Related Word: example, exemplar, model, pattern; pioneer; author, initiator, originator
Contrasted words: consequence, result; effect, event, issue, outgrowth; conclusion, consummation, culmination
Antonyms: end product