predecessors

Noun

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

   Synonyms:

   antecessor, ancestor

   Antonyms:

   successor

2. A model or type of machinery or device which precedes the current (or later) one. Usually used to describe an earlier, outdated model.
   • The steam engine was the predecessor of diesel and electric locomotives.

   Antonyms:

   successor

3. A vertex having a directed path to another vertex