Question

precursor Scientists are trying to identify special geological activity that may be a precursor to an earthquake, which will help them predict the quake's size, time, and location. priˈkərsər

Accepted Answer

One that goes before and indicates the coming of another. With its prefix pre-, meaning “before,” a precursor is literally a “forerunner,” and in fact forerunner first appeared as the translation of the Latin praecursor. But the two words function a little differently today. A forerunner may simply come before another thing, but a precursor generally paves the way for something. So, for example, the Office of Strategic Services in World War II was the immediate precursor of today's Central Intelligence Agency, while the blues music of the 1930s and 1940s was only one of the precursors of the rock and roll of today.

word	precursor
definition	One that goes before and indicates the coming of another.
eg_sentence	Scientists are trying to identify special geological activity that may be a precursor to an earthquake, which will help them predict the quake's size, time, and location.
explanation	With its prefix pre-, meaning “before,” a precursor is literally a “forerunner,” and in fact forerunner first appeared as the translation of the Latin praecursor. But the two words function a little differently today. A forerunner may simply come before another thing, but a precursor generally paves the way for something. So, for example, the Office of Strategic Services in World War II was the immediate precursor of today's Central Intelligence Agency, while the blues music of the 1930s and 1940s was only one of the precursors of the rock and roll of today.
IPA	priˈkərsər

Precursor Forerunner Today Coming Scientists Identify Special Geological