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

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, vor- (de)
• Hungarian: megelőző (hu), korábbi (hu), előbbi (hu)
• Icelandic: undanfari m
• Interlingue:
• Italian: antecedente (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: antecēdēns
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt)
• Romanian: antecedent (ro), precedent (ro)
• Russian: предше́ствующий (ru) m (predšéstvujuščij), предыду́щий (ru) m (predydúščij)
• Spanish: antecedente (es)
• Tagalog: nauna

Noun

Template:examples-right 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.
   • H. W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage

     [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

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 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 n, Vorangehende n, Vorhergehende n, Antezedenz (de) f, Vorläufer (de) m, Vorstufe f, Vorform f
• Greek: προηγούμενος (el) m (proïgoúmenos), πρότερος (el) m (próteros)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: előzmény (hu)
• Icelandic: undanfari m
• Interlingue:
• Italian: antecedente (it) m
• Latin: antecēdēns n
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• Greek: πρόγονος (el) m (prógonos)
• Hungarian: ős (hu)
• Italian: antenato (it) m, progenitore (it) m
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt) m or f, ancestral (pt) m or f, antepassado (pt) m
• Spanish: antecedente (es) m, antepasado (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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: undanfari m
• Italian: antecedente (it) m
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt) m
• Spanish: antecedente (es) 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}}
• Icelandic: forliður (is) f
• Italian: antecedente (it) m
• Portuguese: antecedente (pt) 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

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

See also

• juxtaposition

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French antecédent, 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

[[Category:ante- +‎ ]]