predecessor
Americannoun
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a person who precedes another in an office, position, etc.
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something succeeded or replaced by something else.
The new monument in the park is more beautiful than its predecessor.
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Archaic. an ancestor; forefather.
noun
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a person who precedes another, as in an office
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something that precedes something else
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an ancestor; forefather
Etymology
Origin of predecessor
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English predecessour, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin praedēcessor, from Latin prae- pre- + dēcessor “retiring official” (equivalent to dēcēd(ere) “to withdraw” + -tor -tor; de-, cede )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He has previously said as a vice chairman in charge of Berkshire’s noninsurance operations that he is more hands-on than his predecessor.
His predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had left the nation bankrupt and humiliated, following an eight-year war with neighboring Iraq, one of the deadliest global conflicts of the past century.
He did remove his predecessor's barriers to the education of women.
From BBC
Just as Kim Jong Un has dressed to echo his predecessors, the sartorial symmetry underscores his daughter’s connection to the “Mount Paektu bloodline”—those with a direct lineage to North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.
The new robots are bigger, tougher and better equipped for autonomy than their predecessors.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
