foresteps

Noun

forestep (plural foresteps)

1. an initial, previous, or early step; a prior stage or phase in a process or development cycle
   • Segmentation, as a forestep to organization, involves the necessity of other foresteps as cancellations of like predecessors, as chaotifications of the separate processes without losing the increment of the power, the limitations of which constitute the lay out or type of body to be formed...1884, The Independent Practitioner - Volume 5