preceding

American  

[pri-see-ding] / prɪˈsi dɪŋ /

adjective

1. that precedes; previous.

   Refer back to the footnote on the preceding page.

   Synonyms:

   former, prior, foregoing

   Antonyms:

   following, succeeding

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preceding British  

/ prɪˈsiːdɪŋ /

adjective

1. (prenominal) going or coming before; former

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Usage

What does preceding mean? Preceding means coming before. A close synonym is previous.As an adjective, preceding is always used before a noun, as in the preceding chapter. Preceding can also be used as the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb precede, which means to come before.In most cases, the opposite of preceding is following, meaning coming after. For example, if you’re reading Chapter 7, the preceding chapter is Chapter 6, and the following chapter is Chapter 8.Example: The seventh book in the series features many of the same characters as the six preceding novels.

Etymology

Origin of preceding

First recorded in 1485–95; precede + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Super Saturday—the last Saturday before Christmas—saw store visits across retail rise 21.8% compared with the average foot traffic of the six preceding Saturdays, according to data from Placer.ai.

From Barron's

In the preceding weeks, he had been inexplicably losing weight, had struggled with coordination, and felt near-constant fatigue.

From The Wall Street Journal

No community is a monolith, but one thing many Jewish Australians believe is that warnings about a rise of antisemitism in the months preceding this attack were ignored.

From BBC

Here’s a trivia question for your holiday road trip: In which five U.S. metropolitan areas did the consumer-price index rise by less than 2% over the preceding 12 months?

From The Wall Street Journal

Rubio and his aides had already terminated hundreds of programs in preceding days.

From Salon

Related Words

• introductory
• previous
• prior