precede

American  

[pri-seed] / prɪˈsid /

verb (used with object)

• precedes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• preceded,
  past participle,  past
• preceding
  present participle

1. 

   to go before, as in place, order, rank, importance, or time.

2. to introduce by something preliminary; preface.

   to precede one's statement with a qualification.

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verb (used without object)

• precedes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• preceded,
  past participle,  past
• preceding
  present participle

1. to go or come before.

noun

1. Journalism. copy printed at the beginning of a news story presenting late bulletins, editorial notes, or prefatory remarks.

precede British  

/ prɪˈsiːd /

verb

1. to go or be before (someone or something) in time, place, rank, etc

2. (tr) to preface or introduce

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• precedable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• preceding
  present
• preceded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• precede
  simple
• precedes
  simple
• have preceded
  perfect
• has preceded
  perfect
• am preceding
  progressive
• are preceding
  progressive
• is preceding
  progressive
• have been preceding
  perfect progressive
• has been preceding
  perfect progressive

Past

• preceded
  simple
• had preceded
  perfect
• was preceding
  progressive
• were preceding
  progressive
• had been preceding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will precede
  simple
• will have preceded
  perfect
• will be preceding
  progressive
• will have been preceding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of precede

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English preceden, from Latin praecēdere; see pre-, cede

Explanation

To precede is to come before. A short speech will precede the dinner. As you walk down the garden path, the bed of roses precedes the holly bush. When marching into the room, the younger kids precede the older ones. Precede is one of many verbs ending in "-ceed" or "-cede" that trace their roots back to the Latin word cedere which means "to go." For precede, know that it's pre "first" + cedere "go." When you precede, you go first. You might precede your best friend in line, lunch might precede math class, a joke might precede a lecture, and radio preceded television. Anything that goes first or comes before precedes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

precede precedes preceded preceding

Kirk's family has previously accused the university of serious security failures and has filed a wrongful-death notice, a step that can precede legal action.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

If completed, the new round would precede the company’s highly anticipated initial public offering, now expected next year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Kroenke has not done the usual due diligence that would precede a sale — meeting with team management and touring the stadium — and has not introduced himself to officials from the city of Anaheim.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Research analysts are barred from joining investment bankers on the road shows that precede stock offerings.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

He also hoped to precede the rest of the cavalry and stake the first claim to the reward money.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

It adds that the NHS disclosure of this approach precedes a major government-commissioned review of the "colossal increases" in diagnoses of ADHD, autism and mental illness.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

Researchers do not yet know whether deterioration of superficial white matter begins before gray matter loss, develops alongside it, or precedes measurable cognitive decline.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

Doing so guarantees that at least one of his plate appearances will be with the bases empty and probably more since the bottom of the order precedes him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026

The ADP report precedes additional jobs data from the Labor Department on Friday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

It was the Friday evening at the end of the week following Thanksgiving, the start of a quiet weekend that precedes the Christmas season.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

The Euros with Spain came and the Ballon d'Or followed, along with the World Cup title and MVP award that preceded his move to Barcelona this summer.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

Dev Ittycheria, who preceded Desai as MongoDB’s CEO, returned to lead the database company on an interim basis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

“The old guard was based on the community that preceded us. So, when we were coming up and out of high school where we were building our own, we really had to adapt,” Lawrence says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

However, in many of the drawdowns identified by RBC, the sudden slump in stocks was preceded by highly bullish investor sentiment, and this is nowhere apparent today.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

Despite my resistance to the hype that had preceded him, I found myself admiring Barack for both his self-assuredness and his earnest demeanor.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Certainly security had been visibly stepped up at the base in the preceding days, so certainly there had been some intelligence about a possible attack.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

Better sleep during the preceding night was also linked to improved next day well-being.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026

A 1990 Denver Business Journal profile noted she had killed a rhinoceros, a lion and a leopard in the preceding year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Kerstetter further testified that Walters’ phone had pinged in Comanche only one other time during the preceding 11 months, about two weeks before the break-in.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Having in the preceding two chapters discussed why so many wild plant species seemingly suitable for domestication were never domesticated, we shall now tackle the corresponding question for domestic mammals.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• anticipate
• foreshadow
• predate
• presage