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Presage vs Precursor - What's the difference?

presage | precursor | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between presage and precursor

is that presage is a warning of a future event; an omen while precursor is that which precurses, a forerunner, a predecessor, an indicator of approaching events.

As a verb presage

is to predict or foretell something.

presage

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A warning of a future event; an omen.
  • An intuition of a future event; a presentiment.

    • Verb

    (presag)
  • To predict or foretell something.
  • * Shakespeare
    • My dreams presage some joyful news at hand.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past. }}
  • To make a prediction.
  • To have a presentiment of; to feel beforehand; to foreknow.

    • Synonyms

    * foreshadow * portend

    precursor

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (chiefly obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • That which precurses, a forerunner, a predecessor, an indicator of approaching events.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Katie L. Burke
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= In the News , passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:
  • (chemistry) One of the compounds that participates in the chemical reaction that produces another compound.

    • Anagrams

    * ----