antecedents
Britishplural noun
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ancestry
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a person's past history
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.
While going rather easy on King George, Ms. Worsley is dismayed by the strategy of her antecedents, whose tactics often seemed calculated to fan the sputtering flames of rebellion.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
“If I do something that shocks me or that I’m not proud of, I’m able to frame that behaviorally and sort of understand the antecedents, the behavior itself and then the consequence,” she said.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 1, 2023
In Virginia, there are also antecedents that reflect the state’s history of suppressing the African American vote.
From New York Times • Apr. 6, 2023
You write that "almost all of the court reforms being debated today have historical antecedents in the Reconstruction period."
From Salon • Jan. 15, 2023
“But as much as modern humanity’s hearts went out to their ancestors, their antecedents, they knew that the paradox and the ripple would make intervention very difficult.”
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
