preceding
Americanadjective
adjective
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
Explanation
Something is preceding if it comes directly before. The preceding sentence is not so much a definition of the word preceding as a description of it. To cede is to give way, so when you use preceding to describe, say, a person, you’re essentially describing him as the one that just gave way. Previous is a good synonyms. If you are in 11th grade now, you were in 10th grade in the preceding year. And a persistent person will keep asking for something even if "no" has been the answer the 10 preceding times he or she has asked.
Vocabulary lists containing preceding
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
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Novel Study: The Scarlet Letter, Chapters 16–24
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Little Rock Girl 1957
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The latest available consumer-price index covering September showed the following changes over the preceding year:
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
In 2020 Network Rail said Trafle Mill bridge in Gowerton, Swansea, had been hit 33 times in the preceding decade, the most of any bridge in Wales and the border areas.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
The Mets finished in last place, and Peralta’s ERA exceeded 6.00 in each of the two months preceding the trade deadline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2026
He led the company through the telecom nuclear winter of the early 2000s, which was more economically devastating than the preceding dot-com bust.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The root of the hoary, decumbent, and less elegant, but larger-flowered Hedysarum mackenzii is poisonous, and nearly killed an old Indian woman at Fort Simpson, who had mistaken it for that of the preceding species.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
