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I've completely forgotten the word you say when someone had your job or something before you, and then you took over.

I'm trying to write a History Essay and my sentence is

The legacy of German's defeat in World War One hung in the air for years after Hitler's ______'s signed the Treaty Of Versailles

I keep thinking its something like oppressor or something but I'm stuck.

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    Are you looking for predecessor?
    – Autoresponder
    Commented Jun 15, 2014 at 9:25
  • I am not a native English speaker, so this is question for people who are more fluent than me: Is the wort antecedent used in different meaning?
    – Martin
    Commented Jun 16, 2014 at 12:43
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    @Martin: yes, it does have a different meaning. Antecedent can mean 'ancestor' though not the normal meaning; but that is as close as it comes.
    – Tim Lymington
    Commented Jun 16, 2014 at 13:56

3 Answers 3

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Predecessor: A person who held a job or office before the current holder.

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With respect to the office:

Prepossessor n. One who possesses, or occupies, previously. --R. Brady.

With respect to the person:

Antecessor a person who goes before; predecessor.

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    Wouldn't Hitler's prepossessor be a person who previously possessed Hitler? That doesn't seem to be what the asker wants.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Jun 15, 2014 at 16:56
  • hmm, isn't a preposessor the reverse of a repossessor? Sounds more like something for exorcists...
    – jwenting
    Commented Jun 16, 2014 at 9:36
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    I agree with @NateEldredge you would write "...Germany's Prepossessor..." otherwise you are implying it's the person who previously possessed Hitler. my $.02
    – MVCylon
    Commented Jun 16, 2014 at 14:16
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antecedents

I have to enter a minimum of thirty characters, so this should satisfy the requirement.

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    Hi Tom, welcome to the site! This is a good suggestion, but the preferred way of rounding out the 30-character minimum when answering a single-word-request question is to provide a definition (and a link to the source of that definition). :-)
    – Hellion
    Commented May 22, 2018 at 16:16

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