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subsequent

UK/ˈsʌbsɪkwənt/US/ˈsʌbsɪkwənt/
adjectiveB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,554 of 15,258mostly writtenformal · an editor’s judgement

Subsequent means coming after the thing just mentioned. First the meeting, then everything subsequent to it.

It is a formal word and it lives in reports, contracts and histories: subsequent events, subsequent chapters, in subsequent years. It always points back at something already named, which is why it reads oddly alone — subsequent to what? The adverb subsequently means afterwards and is one of the commonest formal linking words in English. Do not confuse it with consequent, which means resulting from rather than merely following.

Definitions of subsequent

  1. 1adjectivesubsequentHappening or coming after something already mentioned.B2+

    “The fault was fixed in a subsequent update.”

Where it comes from

Subsequent is what follows on. Latin subsequor meant to follow or to succeed, from the root that also gives us sequence.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *sekʷ-

  2. Latin

    subsequentis

  3. Middle French

    subséquent

  4. English, today

    subsequent

Built from

  • subsequor · Latin — to follow, to succeed

Borrowed from Middle French subséquent, from Latin subsequentis, form of subsequēns, present participle of subsequor (“to follow, to succeed”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Academic English

Practise this word

subsequent in the wild

  • The subsequent Nuremberg trials were twelve trials for war crimes committed by the leaders of Nazi Germany.

    Subsequent Nuremberg trials

  • Less commonly, Biblia Hebraica may also refer to subsequent editions in the Biblia Hebraica series which build on the work of Kittel's editions.

    Biblia Hebraica (Kittel)

  • The V7 Sport formed the basis for subsequent models and ultimately led to the very successful Le Mans.

    Moto Guzzi V7 Sport

  • By that and subsequent Acts 32,583 acres were enclosed.

    The English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields· Gilbert Slater

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.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

the subsequor family

subsequentsubsequently

subsequent — used about once every 2,648 pages · #7,554 · point at the bar for the others

  • subsequent analysis