precursor
Word family nounprecursoradjectiveprecursive
pre·cur·sor /prɪˈkɜːsə $ -ˈkɜːrsər/ noun [countableC] formalBEFORE something that happened or existed before something else and influenced its development 〔事物的〕前身,先驱precursor of/to a precursor of modern jazz 现代爵士乐的先驱
precursor of/to• Human nature often requires conflict as a precursor to truth.• This is the first treatment designed to specifically target insulin resistance, which is a precursor to diabetes.• Legal reform was a prerequisite for social change, but not automatically the immediate precursor of it.• Many of these animals, rather than being simple precursors of sophisticates yet to come, were quite unlike anything ever seen elsewhere.• But for Jenks thought was always the precursor to action.• Some, the precursors of fungi, could only survive in the dark.• The Office of Strategic Services was the precursor of the CIA.• His parents, he says, were precursors to the counter-culture. Origin precursor (1500-1600) Latin praecursor, from praecurrere “to run in front”