antedate

American  

[an-ti-deyt, an-ti-deyt, an-ti-deyt] / ˈæn tɪˌdeɪt, ˌæn tɪˈdeɪt, ˈæn tɪˌdeɪt /

verb (used with object)

antedated, antedating

1. to be of older date than; precede in time.

   The Peruvian empire antedates the Mexican empire.

2. predate.

3. to assign to an earlier date.

   to antedate a historical event.

4. to cause to return to an earlier time.

   to antedate one's thoughts by remembering past events.

5. to cause to happen sooner; accelerate.

   The cold weather antedated their departure from the country.

6. Archaic. to take or have in advance; anticipate.

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noun

1. a prior date.

antedate British  

verb

1. to be or occur at an earlier date than

2. to affix a date to (a document, etc) that is earlier than the actual date

3. to assign a date to (an event, etc) that is earlier than its previously assigned date

4. to cause to occur sooner

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noun

1. an earlier date

Etymology

Origin of antedate

1570–80; earlier antidate < Middle French antidater, derivative of antidate a date earlier than the true date (by association with anté- ante- ), originally a date put in place of another date; ante-, date ¹

Example Sentences

The thought that a 17-game regular season was too long will someday seem as quaint and antedated as the Christmas Eve playoff matchups of the mid-1970s.

From New York Times

The system is evidently an ancient one, long antedating the immunologic sensing of familiar or foreign forms of life by the antibodies on which we now depend so heavily for our separateness.

From Literature

Yet war antedates the state, diplomacy and strategy by many millennia.

From Literature

Hardly a day goes by on ADS-L, the email discussion list of the American Dialect Society, without someone reporting an antedating of some word or another.

From Time

When Selig became acting commissioner in 1992, baseball still had an economic model that antedated television, radio, flight and the internal combustion engine.

From Washington Post