Other forms: predecessors
A predecessor is the one who held the post before you. My predecessor, the predecessor's policy, blame your predecessor.
It also applies to things: a predecessor model, a predecessor company. Blaming a predecessor is the oldest move in office politics and works for about six months. The opposite is successor, and both come from the Latin for going.
1nounpredecessorThe one who held the post before you.
“The new headteacher is much stricter than her predecessor.”
predecessor is a person.
Latin praedecessor, from prae, before, plus decessor, one who retires from a post.
Latin
praedēcessor
Old French
predecesseor — forebear
Middle English
predecessour
English, today
predecessor
From Middle English predecessour, from Old French predecesseor (“forebear”), from Latin praedēcessor, from Latin prae- (“pre-”) + Latin dēcessor (“retiring officer”), from Latin dēcēdō (“to retire, to die”) (English decease).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA