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anterior

[an-teer-ee-er]
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adjective
  1. situated before or at the front of; fore (opposed to 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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Origin of anterior

1535–45; < Latin, comparative of ante before, formed on model of posterior
Related formsan·te·ri·or·i·ty [an-teer-ee-awr-i-tee, -or-] /ænˌtɪər iˈɔr ɪ ti, -ˈɒr-/, nounan·te·ri·or·ly, adverbnon·an·te·ri·or, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

previouslyaheadsincebacksooneranteereforeformerformerlyforwardgoneheretoforepastpreviousaforeaforetimeantecedentlyanteriorly

Examples from the Web for anteriorly

Historical Examples

  • Annihilation is impossible if anteriorly it was something real.

    Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 2

    Plotinos (Plotinus)

  • Anteriorly it does not form part of the margin of the anteorbital notch.

  • In this animal there are only two gut-diverticula, which are situated most anteriorly.

    The Origin of Vertebrates

    Walter Holbrook Gaskell

  • It unites dorsally with the exoccipitals and anteriorly with the basisphenoid.

    The Vertebrate Skeleton

    Sidney H. Reynolds

  • Dorsally it is fixed to the squamosal and anteriorly to the quadratojugal.

    The Vertebrate Skeleton

    Sidney H. Reynolds

British Dictionary definitions for anteriorly

anterior

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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Compare posterior
Derived Formsanteriority (ænˌtɪərɪˈɒrɪtɪ), noun

Word Origin

C17: from Latin, comparative of ante before
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for anteriorly

anterior

adj.

1610s, Latin, literally "former," comparative of ante "before" (see ante). Related: Anteriority.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
anteriorly in Medicine

anterior

(ăn-tîr′ē-ər)
adj.
  1. Placed before or in front.
  2. Occurring before in time; earlier.
  3. Of or relating to the front surface of the body, especially of the position of one structure relative to another; ventral.
  4. Near the head or rostral end of certain embryos.
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n.
  1. The front surface of the body.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.