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predecessor

noun

Simple meaning

Someone who precedes you in time.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

prehduhsuhser

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɹɛdəsɛsɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. One who precedes you in time (as in holding a position or office)

  2. One who precedes; one who has preceded another in any state, position, office, etc.; one whom another follows or comes after, in any office or position.

  3. A model or type of machinery or device which precedes the current (or later) one. Usually used to describe an earlier, outdated model.

  4. mathematics

    A vertex having a directed path to another vertex

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: One who precedes you in time (as in holding a position or office)

Used this way, predecessor is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use predecessor

  • “The new manager had big shoes to fill, following her successful predecessor.”noun

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.