From Middle English predecessour, from Old French predecesseor, from Late Latin praedēcessor, from Latin prae- + Latin dēcessor, from Latin dēcēdō (English decease).

• (British) IPA: /ˈpɹiːdɪsɛsə(ɹ)/
• (Canada) IPA: /ˈpɹiːdɪsɛsɚ/
• (America) IPA: /ˈpɹɛd.ə.sɛs.ɚ/, /ˈpɹi.də.sɛs.ɚ/

predecessor (plural predecessors)

1. 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.

   Synonyms: antecessor, ancestor

   Antonyms: successor

   Hyponym: forebear

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC ↗:

     I thought about my predecessor, who had died of drink and smoke; and I could have wished he had been so good as to live, and not bother me with his decease.

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 Usually used to describe an earlier, outdated model.

   Antonyms: successor

   The steam engine was the predecessor of diesel and electric locomotives.

3. (mathematics) A vertex having a directed path to another vertex

• forerunner
• foreganger (archaic)
• ancestor
• antecessor (rare)
• precursor

• French: prédécesseur, prédécesseuse, prédécessrice
• German: Vorgänger, Vorgängerin
• Italian: predecessore, antecessore
• Portuguese: predecessor, antecessor
• Russian: предше́ственник
• Spanish: predecesor, antecesor

• French: précédent
• German: Vorläufer
• Italian: precedente
• Portuguese: predecessor
• Russian: предше́ственник
• Spanish: predecesor