antecedent

American  

[an-tuh-seed-nt] / ˌæn təˈsid nt /

adjective

1. preceding; prior.

   an antecedent event.

   Synonyms:

   preexistent, precursory

   Antonyms:

   subsequent

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noun

antecedents plural

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 British  

/ 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

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adjective

1. preceding in time or order; prior

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antecedental
  adjective
• antecedently
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• antecedents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of antecedent

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”; see antecede

Explanation

An antecedent is a thing that comes before something else. You might think rap music has no historical antecedent, but earlier forms of African-American spoken verse go back for centuries. In logic, mathematics, and grammar, the word antecedent (from Latin ante-, "before" + cedere, "to yield") has the meaning "the first part of a statement." More generally, it means "something that came before, and perhaps caused, something else." The word is also an adjective: a lawyer or judge might talk about the "antecedent events" leading up to someone committing a crime.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

antecedent antecedents

Wilson redefined “liberty” not as a natural right antecedent to the government, but as “the right of those who are governed to adjust government to their own needs and interests.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026

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.

From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2025

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.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2024

Maybe the closest antecedent is a new, $85 million HUD program called “Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing,” or PRO Housing, which this summer issued 17 grants of a few million dollars each.

From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2024

If something has happened, then so must its antecedent have done: if a man has forgotten something, it follows that he knew it in the first place.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

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

Two thrillers with literary antecedents — “Cross” on Prime Video and “The Day of the Jackal” on Peacock — premiere Thursday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2024

We must use accurate and direct language to describe the democracy crisis, its historical antecedents and origins, global connections, and what may happen next based on the evidence.

From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2024

“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

Of course, the discovery game had its antecedents and its precedents.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton