forerun
Americanverb (used with object)
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to run in front of; come before; precede.
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to be the precursor or harbinger of; prefigure.
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to anticipate or foretell.
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to forestall.
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to outrun or outstrip.
verb
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to serve as a herald for
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to go before; precede
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to prevent or forestall
Etymology
Origin of forerun
1505–15; fore- + run; probably not continuous with Middle English forerennen (intransitive) to run ahead, Old English fōryrnan
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.
It may, however, forerun a wartime wave of back-to-the-bed "escape" novels.
From Time Magazine Archive
I saw evidences of war-paint and a recent war-dance that forerun an Indian attack.
From Vanguards of the Plains by McCarter, Margaret Hill
In truth his position was a perilous one, and this lull of fierce elements seemed to forerun some terrible explosion—where the storm might spend its fury was as yet hid in darkness.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. V, October, 1850, Volume I. by
To forerun any possible apprehension that he was going to extricate himself and leave her, he held her with considerable firmness, whispering encouragement into her ear the while.
From The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton by Curtis, Wardon Allan
It cannot forerun the limitations of its day, nor anticipate the conquests and common possessions of the future.
From Spenser by Church, R. W. (Richard William)
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.
