If you describe a person or thing as the forerunner of someone or something similar, you mean they existed before them and either influenced their development or were a sign of what was going to happen.
例句
...a machine which, in some respects, was the forerunner of the modern helicopter...在某些方面成為現代直升機前身的機器Some respiratory symptoms can be the forerunners of asthma.一些呼吸道癥狀可能是哮喘病的先兆。
英漢詞典釋義
n.
先驅, 開路人
She is a forerunner of the modern women's movement.她是現代婦女運動的先驅。
先兆, 前兆
Heavy clouds are the forerunners of a storm.陰云密布是暴風雨的前兆。
英英詞典釋義
Noun
1. anything that precedes something similar in time;
"phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience"
2. a person who goes before or announces the coming of another
3. an indication of the approach of something or someone