antecedent

[an-tuh-seed-nt]

adjective

1. preceding; prior.

   an antecedent event.

   Synonyms: preexistent, precursory
   Antonyms: subsequent

noun

1. a preceding circumstance, event, object, style, phenomenon, etc.

   Synonyms: ancestor, forerunner, precursor
   Antonyms: successor

2. antecedents,

   1. ancestors.

   2. the history, events, characteristics, etc., of one's earlier life.

      Little is known about his birth and antecedents.

3. Grammar.,  a 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 of it.

4. Mathematics.

   1. the first term of a ratio; the first or third term of a proportion.

   2. the first of two vectors in a dyad.

5. Logic.,  the conditional element in a proposition, as “Caesar conquered Gaul,” in “If Caesar conquered Gaul, he was a great general.”

antecedent

/ ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt /

noun

1. an event, circumstance, etc, that happens before another

2. grammar 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

3. logic the hypothetical clause, usually introduced by "if", in a conditional statement: that which implies the other

4. maths an obsolescent name for numerator

5. logic the fallacy of inferring the falsehood of the consequent of a conditional statement, given the truth of the conditional and the falsehood of its antecedent, as if there are five of them, there are more than four: there are not five, so there are not more than four

adjective

1. preceding in time or order; prior

Other Word Forms

• antecedental adjective
• antecedently adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of antecedent¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin antecēdent-, stem of antecēdēns “going before,” present participle of antecēdere “to go before, precede, excel, surpass”; antecede

Example Sentences

There are antecedents for what Universal is attempting.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“Alligator Alcatraz” has antecedents in Florida’s historic chain gangs, where Black and queer workers in prison stripes toiled on roadsides and slept in cages often insured by the Charley E. Johns Insurance Agency.

Read more on Salon

To be fair, Trump has never been explicit about the antecedent Again.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Arm in arm with this, and less discussed, is the death of deductive logic, the ability to understand cause and effect by composing simple conditional arguments with an antecedent and a consequent.

Read more on Salon

They found that physical frailty can be an indicator of future social isolation over time and that loneliness may be both an antecedent and an outcome of frailty.

Read more on Science Daily