antecedent

UK/ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt/US/ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt/

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,333 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: antecedents

An antecedent is something that came before and led to what follows. The antecedents of the war, a clear antecedent, without antecedent.

In grammar it is the noun a pronoun refers back to, and an unclear one is the commonest cause of a confusing sentence. In law it is a previous conviction, and in the plural it means somebody's background entirely.

Definitions of antecedent

1nounantecedentSomething that came before and led to what follows.C2
“The historian traced the antecedents of the revolution back to years of hunger and high taxes.”

antecedent is a forerunner.

Where it comes from

Latin antecedens means going before, from ante plus cedere, to go.

Latin
antecēdēns — going before
Old French
antecedent
Middle English
antecedent
English, today
antecedent

Built from

antecēdō · Latin — to precede; excel; surpass

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

antecedent in the wild

The use of pronouns often involves anaphora, where the meaning of the pronoun is dependent on an antecedent.
Pronoun
An alternative model for the origin of atolls is called the antecedent karst model.
Atoll
The name denying the antecedent derives from the premise "not P", which denies the "if" clause (antecedent) of the conditional premise.
Denying the antecedent
In grammar, an antecedent is one or more words that identifies a pronoun or other pro-form.
Antecedent (grammar)
An antecedent is the first half of a hypothetical proposition, whenever the if-clause precedes the then-clause.
Antecedent (logic)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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