What does predecessor mean?
Definitions for predecessor
ˈprɛd əˌsɛs ər; esp. Brit. ˈpri də-pre·de·ces·sor
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word predecessor.
Princeton's WordNet
predecessornoun
one who precedes you in time (as in holding a position or office)
harbinger, forerunner, predecessor, herald, precursornoun
something that precedes and indicates the approach of something or someone
Wiktionary
predecessornoun
One who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position.
predecessornoun
A model or type of machinery or device which precedes the current one. Usually used to describe an earlier, outdated model.
The steam engine was the predecessor of diesel and electric locomotives.
predecessornoun
A vertex having a directed path to another vertex
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Predecessornoun
Etymology: predecesseur, Fr. præ and decedo, Lat.
In these pastoral pastimes, a great many days were spent to follow their flying predecessors. Philip Sidney.
There is cause, why we should be slow and unwilling to change, without very urgent necessity, the ancient ordinances, rites and long approved customs of our venerable predecessors. Richard Hooker.
If I seem partial to my predecessor in the laurel, the friends of antiquity are not few. Dryden.
The present pope, who is well acquainted with the secret history, and the weakness of his predecessor, seems resolved to bring the project to its perfection. Addison.
The more beauteous Cloe sat to thee,
Good Howard, emulous of Apelles’ art;
But happy thou from Cupid’s arrow free,
And flames that pierc’d thy predecessor ’s heart. Matthew Prior.
ChatGPT
predecessor
A predecessor is a person, entity or thing that held a role, position or office before the current occupant, or that came before in time, sequence or development. It's something that has been superseded or replaced by something else. This term can be used in various contexts such as history, computing, mathematics or business.
Webster Dictionary
Predecessornoun
one who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position
Etymology: [L. praedecessor; prae before + decessor one who withdraws from the province he has governed, a retiring officer (with reference to his successor), a predecessor, fr. decedere: cf. F. prdcesseur. See Decease.]
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Predecessor
prē-dē-ses′or, n. one who has been before another in any office.—v.t. Predecess′ (rare), to precede.—adj. Predeces′sive. [L. præ, before, decessor, a retiring officer, decedĕre, decessum, to withdraw—de, away, cedĕre.]
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'predecessor' in Nouns Frequency: #2171
Anagrams for predecessor »
reprocessed
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of predecessor in Chaldean Numerology is: 2
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of predecessor in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1
Examples of predecessor in a Sentence
It is not really difficult to construct a series of inferences, each dependent upon its predecessor and each simple in itself. If, after doing so, one simply knocks out all the central inferences and presents one's audience with the starting-point and the conclusion, one may produce a startling, though perhaps a meretricious, effect.
Blaming Trump for the Iran policy impasse is old news, the Biden administration promised early in 2021 to make sure politics stops at water’s edge. Going to Israel and invoking the evolving Iranian nuclear threat as being the result of his predecessor does the exact opposite.
My office's calculation based on an in-service date of 2028 and a missile extension until 2060... the total cost is 167 billion pounds, the successor Trident program is going to consume more than double the proportion of the defense budget of its predecessor... The price required, both from the UK taxpayer and our conventional forces, is now too high to be rational or sensible.
This is not something that should be done off-the-cuff by the President of the United States just looking for a cheap shot at his predecessor.
Biden presented himself as an antidote to his predecessor, offering the promise of what his own campaign ads called ‘strong, steady, stable leadership’ after four years of bedlam under President Donald Trump. But the tumult surrounding the administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan offered an early glimpse of the cascade of crises that have badly eroded Biden’s image of restoring calm.
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References
Translations for predecessor
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- antecessorCatalan, Valencian
- předchůdceCzech
- Vorgängerin, VorgängerGerman
- προκάτοχοςGreek
- antaŭuloEsperanto
- antecesor, predecesorSpanish
- edeltäjäFinnish
- prédécesseur, précédentFrench
- pendahuluIndonesian
- antecessore, precedente, predecessoreItalian
- 前機種, 前任者Japanese
- poprzednikPolish
- predecessor, antecessorPortuguese
- предшественник, предшественницаRussian
- föregångareSwedish
- попередникUkrainian
- 前任Chinese
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"predecessor." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/predecessor>.
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