A person or thing that came before another in time, especially someone who held a job or position before someone else.
From Latin 'praedecessor,' where 'prae' means 'before' and 'decessor' means 'one who goes away.' It literally means 'one who goes before,' used for people who left office before their successors.
Every president has a predecessor, and studying predecessors helps us understand history—like how each president's decisions were often reactions to problems their predecessors created!
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