|
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025an•te•ced•ent /ˌæntəˈsidnt/USA pronunciation adj.
- preceding;
prior; coming before: an antecedent event.
n. [countable]
- something that comes or happens before another:Isolated skirmishes were antecedents of the war.
- antecedents, [plural]
- ancestors:Where did your antecedents come from?
- Grammara word, phrase, or clause, usually a noun, that is replaced, usually later, by a pronoun or other substitute. Jane is the antecedent (of the pronoun she) in the sentence: Jane lost a glove and she is upset.
an•te•ced•ence, n. [uncountable]See -cede-.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025an•te•ced•ent
(an′tə sēd′nt),USA pronunciation adj.
- preceding; prior:an antecedent event.
n.
- a preceding circumstance, event, object, style, phenomenon, etc.
- antecedents:
- ancestors.
- the history, events, characteristics, etc., of one's earlier life:Little is known about his birth and antecedents.
- Grammara word, phrase, or clause, usually a substantive, that is replaced by a pronoun or other substitute later, or occasionally earlier, in the same or in another, usually subsequent, sentence. In Jane lost a glove and she can't find it, Jane is the antecedent of she and glove is the antecedent ofit.
- Mathematics
- the first term of a ratio;
the first or third term of a proportion.
- the first of two vectors in a dyad.
- Philosophy[Logic.]the conditional element in a proposition, as "Caesar conquered Gaul,'' in "If Caesar conquered Gaul, he was a great general.''
- Latin antecēdent- (stem of antecēdēns) going before, present participle of antecēdere to antecede; see -ent
- Middle French)
- Middle English (1350–1400
an•te•ce•den•tal
(an′tə sē den′tl),USA pronunciation adj.
an′te•ced′ent•ly, adv.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged precursory, preexistent.
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged precursor, forerunner, ancestor.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged subsequent.
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged successor.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
antecedent / ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt/ - an event, circumstance, etc, that happens before another
- a word or phrase to which a pronoun refers. In the sentence "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," people is the antecedent of who
- the hypothetical clause, usually introduced by "if", in a conditional statement: that which implies the other
- an obsolescent name for numerator1
- preceding in time or order; prior
'antecedent' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
|
|