Previous means coming just before this one. The previous week, her previous job, a previous owner.
It goes before the noun and is not used after a verb — you cannot say the week was previous. Previous to is a formal alternative to before. Note previously, the adverb, meaning at an earlier time; no previous convictions, the legal phrase; and that in British informal speech a bit previous means jumping ahead of yourself, as in that is a bit previous, which is a gentle way of telling somebody to wait.
1adjectivepreviousComing just before this one.
“The previous owner had painted everything brown.”
synonyms: former, earlier, preceding
previous is a position in order.
Also accepted in games: former, earlier
Latin praevius is prae-, before, plus via, road — going before on the road. Via, obvious and trivial come from the same noun, and trivial meant belonging to the crossroads where three roads met.
Latin
praevius
English, today
previous
From Latin praevius.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA