English
antecedent
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˌantɪˈsiːdənt/
Adjective

antecedent (not comparable)

  1. Earlier, either in time or in order.
    an event antecedent to the Biblical Flood
    an antecedent cause
  2. Presumptive.
    an antecedent improbability
Related terms 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, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 3:
      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.
    • H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
      [W]hereas it might seem orderly that, as who is appropriated to persons, so that should have been appropriated to things […] the antecedent of that is often personal.
      One such condition can be formulated in terms of the c-command relation defined in (9) above: the relevant condition is given in (16) below:
      (16) C-COMMAND CONDITION ON ANAPHORS
      An anaphor must have an appropriate c-commanding antecedent
  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.
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