Word.ws English Dictionary

foreganger

foreganger noun: one who or that which goes before; a forerunner; a harbinger; a predecessor.

Noun

foreganger (plural foregangers)

  1. (archaic, rare) One who or that which goes before; a forerunner; a harbinger; a predecessor.
  2. A short rope grafted on a harpoon, to which a longer line may be attached.
    • The foreganger is most commonly formed of white or untarred rope , which is stronger and more flexible than tarred rope , consequently more easily extended when the harpoon is thrown1820, William Scoresby, The whale-fishery

Forms of foreganger

pluralforegangers

Origin of foreganger

From Middle English forganger, forgangere, from Old English *foregangere, from foregangan (“to go before, precede, go in front of, project, excel”), equivalent to fore- + ganger. Cognate with Scots foregangare (“a foregoer”), Dutch voorganger (“a predecessor, progenitor”), German Vorgänger (“a predecessor, precursor”), Swedish föregångare (“a forerunner, precursor, progenitor”).

Questions about foreganger

What does foreganger mean?
Foreganger means one who or that which goes before; a forerunner; a harbinger; a predecessor.
What part of speech is foreganger?
Foreganger is a noun.
What is the plural of foreganger?
The plural of foreganger is foregangers.

Words near foreganger in the dictionary

  1. foregaffs
  2. foregain
  3. foregainst
  4. foregame
  5. foregames
  6. foreganger
  7. foregangers
  8. foregate
  9. foregates
  10. foregather
  11. foregathered

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: foreganger (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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