anterior

American  

[an-teer-ee-er] / ænˈtɪər i ər /

adjective

1. situated before or at the front of; fore (posterior ).

2. going before in time or sequence; preceding; earlier.

   events anterior to the outbreak of war.

3. Linguistics. (in distinctive feature analysis) articulated in the region extending from the alveolar ridge to the lips; alveolar, dental, or labial.

4. (in animals and embryos) pertaining to or toward the head or forward end of the body.

5. (in humans) pertaining to or toward the front plane of the body, equivalent to the ventral surface of quadrupeds.

6. Botany. on the front side and away from the main axis, as the lower lip of a flower.

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anterior British  

/ ænˌtɪərɪˈɒrɪtɪ, ænˈtɪərɪə /

adjective

1. situated at or towards the front

2. earlier in time

3. zoology of or near the head end

4. botany (of part of a flower or leaf) situated farthest away from the main stem

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Other Word Forms

• anteriority noun
• anteriorly adverb
• nonanterior adjective

Etymology

Origin of anterior

1535–45; < Latin, comparative of ante before, formed on model of posterior

Example Sentences

The fracture -- coming just over a week after she had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee -- sent Vonn to the Ca' Foncello hospital in the city of Treviso, north of Venice.

From Barron's

And it happened to her a week earlier, too, when she sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a crash at Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

From Los Angeles Times

Vonn, 41, insisted that the ruptured anterior cruciate ligament she suffered in a crash in a World Cup race before the Milan-Cortina Games "had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever".

From Barron's

The question of whether she should have been racing at all with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament will be debated for years.

From Los Angeles Times

American skier Lindsey Vonn crashes in the women's downhill competition at the Winter Olympics, nine days after rupturing her left anterior cruciate ligament.

From BBC