antecedent

See also: antécédent

English

Etymology

From Middle English antecedent, borrowed from Old French antecedent, from Latin antecēdēns (“going before”), from antecēdō (“to precede; excel; surpass”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌantɪˈsiːdənt/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Adjective

antecedent (not comparable)

1. Earlier, either in time or in order.

   an event antecedent to the Biblical Flood

   an antecedent cause

2. Presumptive.

   an antecedent improbability

Derived terms

• antecedently
• antecedent phrase

 

Related terms

• antecede
• antecedence

Translations

earlier in time or order

• Bulgarian: предшестващ (bg) (predšestvašt), предишен (bg) (predišen)
• Dutch: voorafgaand (nl), vroeger (nl)
• Finnish: edeltävä (fi)
• German: früher (de), vorausgehend (de), vorgängig (de), voriger (de) m, vorige (de) f, voriges (de) n, vorangehend (de), vorgängig (de), vorrangig (de), vorhergehend (de), vor- (de)
• Hungarian: megelőző (hu), korábbi (hu), előbbi (hu)
• Icelandic: undanfari m
• Italian: antecedente (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: antecēdēns
• Malay: sebelum (ms)
• Polish: antecedentny, uprzedni (pl)
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt)
• Romanian: antecedent (ro), precedent (ro)
• Russian: предше́ствующий (ru) m (predšéstvujuščij), предыду́щий (ru) m (predydúščij)
• Spanish: antecedente (es)
• Tagalog: nauna

Noun

Examples (linguistics: expression referred to by pronoun)
In “The policeman asked the boy what he was doing.”, the phrase “the boy” is the antecedent of the pronoun “he”. In the sentence “I saw my girlfriend yesterday wearing her old jacket which is odd because she almost never wears it.”, the phrase “my girlfriend” is the antecedent of “her” and “old jacket” is the antecedent of “it”.

antecedent (plural antecedents)

1. Any thing that precedes another thing, especially the cause of the second thing.
2. An ancestor.
   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 3:

     The Boston agent added that this clerk was a young man of wholly unquestioned veracity and reliability, of known antecedents and long with the company.

3. (grammar) A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun.
   • 1926, H. W. Fowler, “that rel. pron.”, in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, reprint of the first edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 634, column 2:

     [W]hereas it might seem orderly that, as who is appropriated to persons, so that should have been appropriated to things […] the antecedent of that is often personal

   • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 117:

     One such condition can be formulated in terms of the c-command relation defined in (9) above: the relevant condition is given in (16) below:
     (16) C-COMMAND CONDITION ON ANAPHORS
     An anaphor must have an appropriate c-commanding antecedent

4. (logic) The conditional part of a hypothetical proposition, i.e. $p\rightarrow q$, where $p$ is the antecedent, and $q$ is the consequent.
5. (logic) The first of two subsets of a sequent, consisting of all the sequent's formulae which are valuated as true.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

6. (mathematics) The first term of a ratio, i.e. the term a in the ratio a:b, the other being the consequent.
7. (chiefly in the plural) Previous principles, conduct, history, etc.

Synonyms

• (something which precedes): precedent, precursor
• (an ancestor): ascendant, ascendent, forebear, forefather, forerunner, predecessor, progenitor

Antonyms

• (in logic): consequent, (for sequents) succedent
• (in linguistics): anaphor

Holonyms

• conditional
• See Thesaurus:argument form

Derived terms

• last antecedent rule

 

Translations

any thing that precedes another thing

• Bulgarian: предшественик (bg) (predšestvenik)
• Catalan: antecedent m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前情 (zh) (qiánqíng), 前情 (zh) (qián qíng)

• Czech: předchůdce (cs) m, příčina (cs) f
• Dutch: antecedent (nl) n, voorafgaande (nl) n
• Finnish: edeltäjä (fi), edeltävä asia
• French: antécédent (fr) m
• German: Vorgeschichte (de) f, Ursache (de) f, Vorleben (de) n, Vorangehende n, Vorhergehende n, Antezedenz (de) f, Vorläufer (de) m, Vorstufe (de) f, Vorform f
• Greek: προηγούμενος (el) m (proïgoúmenos), πρότερος (el) m (próteros)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: előzmény (hu)
• Icelandic: undanfari m
• Italian: antecedente (it) m
• Latin: antecēdēns n
• Malay: sebelum (ms)
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt) m
• Romanian: antecedent (ro) n, precedent (ro) n
• Spanish: antecedente (es) m
• Swedish: föregångare (sv) c
• Tagalog: nauna

ancestor

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前辈 (zh) (qián bèi)

• Czech: předek (cs) m
• Dutch: voorouder (nl) c
• Finnish: esi-isä (fi), esivanhempi
• French: ascendant (fr) m
• German: Ahne (de) m or f, Vorläufer (de) m, Vorfahre m, Vorfahr (de) m, Uhrahn m, Uhrahne m or f, Stammvater (de) m, Ahn (de) m, Ahnin (de) f, Ahne (de) m or f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: πρόγονος (el) m (prógonos)
• Hungarian: ős (hu)
• Italian: antenato (it) m, progenitore (it) m
• Malay: keturunan (ms)
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt) m or f, ancestral (pt) m or f, antepassado (pt) m
• Spanish: antecedente (es) m, antepasado (es) m, ancestro (es) m
• Vietnamese: tiền bối (vi)

word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun

• Dutch: antecedent (nl) n
• Finnish: korrelaatti (fi)
• French: antécédent (fr) m
• German: Beziehungswort (de) n, Bezugselement n, Antezedens (de) n, Bezugswort (de) n
• Icelandic: undanfari m
• Italian: antecedente (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: anteseden
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt) m
• Spanish: antecedente (es) m
• Welsh: rhagflaenydd m

conditional part of a hypothetical proposition

• Dutch: antecedent (nl) n
• Finnish: etujäsen
• French: antécédent (fr) m
• German: Antezedens (de) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: υπόθεση (el) f (ypóthesi)
• Icelandic: forliður (is) f
• Italian: antecedente (it) m
• Polish: antecedens m
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt) m
• Spanish: antecedente (es) m

The first of two subsets of a sequent

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

The first term of a ratio

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Previous principles, conduct, history, etc.

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: antecedencje (pl) f pl, anteriora n pl, antecedens m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} antecedanto
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• juxtaposition

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French antécédent, from Latin antecēdēns (“go before”), from antecēdere (“to go or come before”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑn.tə.səˈdɛnt/

• audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: an‧te‧ce‧dent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

antecedent n (plural antecedenten, diminutive antecedentje n)

1. antecedent (thing that precedes; prior fact, background fact)
2. (linguistics) antecedent (referent of a word, esp. of a pronoun)
3. (logic) antecedent (condition part of a proposition)

Antonyms

• (logic): (consequent)
• (linguistics): (anafoor)

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) antecēdent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of antecēdō

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Romanian

Etymology

From French antécédent, from Latin antecedens.

Adjective

antecedent m or n (feminine singular antecedentă, masculine plural antecedenți, feminine and neuter plural antecedente)

1. antecedent

Declension

Declension of antecedent

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	antecedent		antecedentă	antecedenți	antecedente
	definite	antecedentul		antecedenta	antecedenții	antecedentele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	antecedent		antecedente	antecedenți	antecedente
	definite	antecedentului		antecedentei	antecedenților	antecedentelor