precursor

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːˌkɜː.sə(ɹ)/, /pɹɪˈkɜː.sə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • Audio (Brisbane (Australia))

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːˌkɜɹ.səɹ/, /pɹɪˈkɜɹ.səɹ/

Borrowed from Latin praecursor (“forerunner”). See precurse, and refer to -or.

• (obsolete) præcursor

precursor (plural precursors)

1. That which precurses: a forerunner, predecessor, or indicator of approaching events.
   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:

     Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: […] . The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom.

2. (chemistry) One of the compounds that participates in the chemical reaction that produces another compound.

• precursor tip
• precursory

• cursor

From pre- +‎ cursor.

precursor (not comparable)

1. (telecommunications, of intersymbol interference) Caused by the following symbol.

   Antonym: postcursor

• ISI

• “precursor”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “precursor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Intersymbol interference on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• procurers

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pɾə.kurˈso]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [pɾe.kuɾˈsoɾ]

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursors, feminine plural precursores)

1. precursory, preceding

precursor m (plural precursors, feminine precursora)

1. precursor

• “precursor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “precursor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “precursor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “precursor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Latin praecursor.

• IPA^(key): /preˈkʏrsɔr/

• Audio

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precursor m (plural precursors, diminutive precursortje n)

1. precursor, forerunner

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

• Hyphenation: pre‧cur‧sor

precursor m (plural precursores, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursor; forerunner (something that led to the development of another)

• cursor

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursory (pertaining to events that will follow)

• “precursor” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Borrowed from French précurseur.

precursor m (plural precursori)

1. precursor

Borrowed from Latin praecursōrem.

precursor (feminine precursora, masculine plural precursores, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursory, preceding

precursor m (plural precursores, feminine precursora, feminine plural precursoras)

1. precursor, forerunner

• “precursor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014