antecedent
Etymology

From Middle English antecedent, borrowed from Old French antecedent, from Latin antecēdēns, from antecēdō.

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt/
Adjective

antecedent (not comparable)

  1. Earlier, either in time or in order.
    Synonyms: precedent#Adjective, predecessive, preceding
    Antonyms: successive
    an antecedent cause
    an event antecedent to the Biblical Flood
  2. Presumptive.
    an antecedent improbability
Translations Noun

antecedent (plural antecedents)

  1. Any thing that precedes another thing, especially the cause of the second thing.
  2. An ancestor.
    • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 3, in The Whisperer in Darkness:
      The Boston agent added that this clerk was a young man of wholly unquestioned veracity and reliability, of known antecedents and long with the company.
  3. (grammar) A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun.
  4. (logic) The conditional part of a hypothetical proposition, i.e. p \rightarrow q, where p is the antecedent, and q is the consequent.
  5. (logic) The first of two subsets of a sequent, consisting of all the sequent's formulae which are valuated as true.
  6. (math) The first term of a ratio, i.e. the term a in the ratio a:b, the other being the consequent.
  7. (mostly, in the plural) Previous principles, conduct, history, etc.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations


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