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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

antecedent.

Earlier, either in time or in order.

10 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt/
  1. Earlier, either in time or in order.

    not-comparable
    an antecedent cause
    an event antecedent to the Biblical Flood
  2. Presumptive.

    not-comparable
    an antecedent improbability
Where this word comes from

From Middle English antecedent, borrowed from Old French antecedent, from Latin antecēdēns (“going before”), from antecēdō (“to precede; excel; surpass”).

noun/ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt/
  1. Any thing that precedes another thing, especially the cause of the second thing.

  2. An ancestor.

  3. A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun or other pro-form.

  4. The conditional part of a hypothetical proposition, i.e. p→q, where p is the antecedent, and q is the consequent.

  5. The first of two subsets of a sequent, consisting of all the sequent's formulae which are valuated as true.

  6. The first term of a ratio, i.e. the term a in the ratio a:b, the other being the consequent.

  7. Previous principles, conduct, history, etc.

    in-plural
Where this word comes from

From Middle English antecedent, borrowed from Old French antecedent, from Latin antecēdēns (“going before”), from antecēdō (“to precede; excel; surpass”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.