Definition of Antecedent

1. Noun. Someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent).

Exact synonyms: Ancestor, Ascendant, Ascendent, Root
Specialized synonyms: Ancestress, Forbear, Forebear, Father, Forefather, Sire, Foremother, Primogenitor, Progenitor
Generic synonyms: Relation, Relative
Derivative terms: Ancestral, Ancestral
Antonyms: Descendant

2. Adjective. Preceding in time or order.

3. Noun. A preceding occurrence or cause or event.
Generic synonyms: Cause
Derivative terms: Antecede

4. Noun. Anything that precedes something similar in time. "Phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience"
Exact synonyms: Forerunner
Generic synonyms: Temporal Relation

5. Noun. The referent of an anaphor; a phrase or clause that is referred to by an anaphoric pronoun.
Generic synonyms: Referent

Definition of Antecedent

1. a. Going before in time; prior; anterior; preceding; as, an event antecedent to the Deluge; an antecedent cause.

2. n. That which goes before in time; that which precedes.

Definition of Antecedent

1. Adjective. Earlier, either in time or order. ¹

2. Noun. Any thing that precedes another thing, especially the cause of the second thing. ¹

3. Noun. An ancestor. ¹

4. Noun. (grammar) A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun. ¹

5. Noun. (logic) The conditional part of a hypothetical proposition. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Antecedent

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Antecedent

1. Existing or occurring before in time or order often with consequential effects. (18 Nov 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Antecedent

anteater
anteaters
anteating
antebellum
antebrachial
antebrachial fascia
antebrachial flexor retinaculum
antebrachium
antecardium
antecedaneous
antecede
anteceded
antecedence
antecedences
antecedency
antecedent (current term)
antecedent phrase
antecedent phrases
antecedent sign
antecedently
antecedents
antecedes
anteceding
antecessor
antecessors
antecessour
antechamber
antechambers
antechapel
antechapels

Literary usage of Antecedent

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Crabb's English Synonyms by George Crabb (1917)
"antecedent marke priority of order, place, and position, with this peculiar circumstance, that it denotes the relation of influence, dependence, ..."

2. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery: During by Great Britain Court of Chancery, Edward Thurlow Thurlow, Alexander Wedderburn Rosslyn, Jonathan Cogswell Perkins (1844)
"Bill taken for an antecedent debt without indorsement, proving bad, the antecedent debt may be resorted to (a): but, if the bill is discounted without ..."

3. The Homophonic Forms of Musical Composition: An Exhaustive Treatise on the by Percy Goetschius (1898)
"The same, with repetition of the antecedent Phrase, or both antecedent and Consequent Phrases (par. 43). The repetitions must, here again, ..."

4. Journal of the American Oriental Society by American Oriental Society (1885)
"Tho antecedent is expressed in its own clause, and it or a synonym is repeated ... The antecedent is expressed in the relative clause, and represented by a ..."

5. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1888)
"There is nothing on the face of article 209 of the Louisiana State Constitution of 1879, evidencing an Intention that it should be applied to antecedent ..."

6. A Treatise on International Law by William Edward Hall (1895)
"The antecedent conditions upon which their validity depends. 2. ... The antecedent conditions of the validity of a treaty may be stated as follows. ..."

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