antecedent

/ˈæntəˌsidnt/

/æntɪˈsidɪnt/

Other forms: antecedents

An antecedent is a thing that comes before something else. You might think rap music has no historical antecedent, but earlier forms of African-American spoken verse go back for centuries.

In logic, mathematics, and grammar, the word antecedent (from Latin ante-, "before" + cedere, "to yield") has the meaning "the first part of a statement." More generally, it means "something that came before, and perhaps caused, something else." The word is also an adjective: a lawyer or judge might talk about the "antecedent events" leading up to someone committing a crime.

Definitions of antecedent

1. noun

   a preceding occurrence or cause or event
   type of:

   cause

   events that provide the generative force that is the origin of something
2. noun

   anything that precedes something similar in time
   “phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience”

   synonyms: forerunner

   type of:

   temporal relation

   a relation involving time
3. noun

   someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
   synonyms: ancestor, ascendant, ascendent, root

   types:

   ancestress

   a woman ancestor

   forbear, forebear

   a person from whom you are descended

   father, forefather, sire

   the founder of a family

   foremother

   a woman ancestor

   primogenitor, progenitor

   an ancestor in the direct line

   genitor

   a natural father or mother

   grandparent

   a parent of your father or mother

   great grandparent

   a parent of your grandparent

   patriarch

   any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers of the human race

   type of:

   relation, relative

   a person related by blood or marriage
4. adjective

   preceding in time or order
   synonyms:

   anterior, prior

   earlier in time

   anticipatory, prevenient

   in anticipation

   pre-existent, pre-existing, preexistent, preexisting

   existing previously or before something

   preceding

   existing or coming before

   antonyms:

   subsequent

   following in time or order

   accompanying, attendant, concomitant, consequent, corollary, ensuant, incidental, resultant, sequent

   following or occurring as a consequence

   later, posterior, ulterior

   coming at a subsequent time or stage

   succeeding

   coming after or following
5. noun

   the referent of an anaphor; a phrase or clause that is referred to by an anaphoric pronoun
   type of:

   referent

   something referred to; the object of a reference