predate
Americanverb
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to affix a date to (a document, paper, etc) that is earlier than the actual date
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to assign a date to (an event, period, etc) that is earlier than the actual or previously assigned date of occurrence
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to be or occur at an earlier date than; precede in time
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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predatesimple
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predatessimple
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have predatedperfect
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has predatedperfect
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am predatingprogressive
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are predatingprogressive
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is predatingprogressive
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have been predatingperfect progressive
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has been predatingperfect progressive
Past
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predatedsimple
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had predatedperfect
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was predatingprogressive
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were predatingprogressive
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had been predatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of predate
Explanation
To predate is to happen or exist before something else. If you move into a house that already has a ghost, the ghost predates you. Boo! If your interest in soul music predates your sister's, you loved it first. When you use predate this way, you can read it as a combination of pre-, "before," and date, "point in time." Another meaning of this verb is "to prey on for food," so you could say that your cat predates the mice that live in your kitchen. This definition stems from predator, from the Latin praedator, "plunderer."
Vocabulary lists containing predate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Their experiments suggest that the attraction to crystals may have deep evolutionary origins that predate modern humans.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
US reservations about the court predate the Trump.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
Other buyers would say, however, that such issues long predate the current soccer bonanza.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
Much of these findings predate the energy shock in 2022, and attribute the hit to uncertainty in the first years after Brexit.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Had the king had them carved when he built the clock tower, or did they predate it?
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
And as we get into subsequent episodes that we’re dealing with now, we see that Robby’s sense of loss predates Louie and his mentor, Adamson, and it goes back to almost an original sin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
In fact, the process far predates the modern primary and was long a staple of how parties chose candidates.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
It also predates last year's National Insurance rise.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
“In some cases, the improvement in demand predates the conflict, but recent geopolitical developments have reinforced the trend,” analysts wrote.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
Use of the word “upset” in this sense predates that race.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Hickman, now owned by meatpacking giant JBS and Brazilian egg supplier Mantiqueira, said the alleged conduct predated their late-2025 acquisition of the company, but that the settlement resolves all allegations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
His keen interest in the power of image far predated his rise to power.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
In an interview, Rose-Perfito, 29, argued that the speed running trend predated the dare post and rejected the legal threat from Scientology.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
The Luddite movement, which predated the Swing Riots, was led by textile workers convinced that power-operated looms would permanently impoverish the middle class.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
The creditor’s note was purportedly signed by Roan and was dated “Jany, 1921”; this was important, because it indicated that the note predated efforts to obtain the insurance, giving legitimacy to Hale’s claim.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
But there is also a shift predating the AI boom that has quietly persisted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
On 13 March 2025, bulldozers demolished homes in Gishiri, an indigenous community predating the FCT.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026
It lost $2 billion in 2001, with the vast majority of its problems predating the Sept. 11 attacks.
From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2025
Survey response rates have dramatically declined External link in recent years, predating the Covid-19 pandemic.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2025
In Portugal, a survey was made of 400 skeletons from the period immediately predating the Agricultural Revolution.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
