precursor

«precursor» in Mova's school dictionary: Something that came before a later thing and led to it or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (a precursor, precursors)

meaning for a pupil

1) Something that came before a later thing and led to it or helped it develop: «The abacus was a precursor of the calculator.» tree →

2) A sign or event that comes before something else: «a precursor to a storm». tree →

3) (science) A substance from which another substance is made in a chemical reaction or in the body. tree →

sense in the lessons

In history and technology lessons we trace precursors: older inventions, animals or ideas that came first. In science a precursor is a starting chemical. Phrases: «a precursor of», «a precursor to», «an early precursor».

examples

• The penny-farthing was a precursor of the modern bicycle. tree →
• Telegrams were a precursor to text messages. tree →
• Some dinosaurs were precursors of birds. tree →
• Dark clouds were the precursor to a big storm. tree →
• The Greek Olympics were a precursor of today's Games. tree →
• In plants, some chemicals are precursors of colours in leaves. tree →
• The first computer games were simple precursors of the games we play now. tree →

note

Countable: a precursor, precursors. Use «precursor of» or «precursor to». It is formal; in everyday talk you can say «forerunner» or «early version». From Latin for «a runner who goes ahead».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «precursor» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.