previous

English

Alternative forms

• prævious (archaic)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin praevius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹivi.əs/
• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːvɪəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

previous (comparative more previous, superlative most previous)

1. (not comparable) Prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.
   • (Can we date this quote by Thomson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The dull sound […] previous to the storm, / Rolls o'er the muttering earth.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.

   He is no better than the previous Prime Minister.

2. (informal) Premature; acting or occurring too soon.
   • 2010, Gerald Lynch, Roughnecks, Drillers, and Tool Pushers:

     I was a bit previous it turned out, as I worked short-handed for ten days before I could find another hand.

Synonyms

• former
• late
• old
• See also Thesaurus:former

Antonyms

• future
• following
• next
• succeeding

Derived terms

• previously

• previously disadvantaged

• previousness

Translations

prior

• Arabic: سَابِق (sābiq)

  Egyptian Arabic: قبل (ʔabl)

• Armenian: նախորդ (hy) (naxord)
• Asturian: previu, anterior
• Belarusian: міну́лы (minúly)
• Burmese: အလျင် (my) (a.lyang)
• Catalan: previ, anterior (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: ^{(please verify)} 前一個／前一个, ^{(please verify)} 前一个 (cin⁴ jat¹ go³), ^{(please verify)} 上個／上个, ^{(please verify)} 上个 (soeng⁶ go³)

  Mandarin: 以前的 (yǐqián de), ^{(please verify)} 前一個／前一个, ^{(please verify)} 前一个 (qián yīge)

• Czech: předchozí (cs) m
• Danish: foregående, forrige (da)
• Dutch: vorig (nl)
• Esperanto: antaŭa
• Finnish: edellinen (fi), aikaisempi (fi), aiempi (fi)
• French: préalable (fr)
• Galician: previo, anterior (gl)
• German: vorhergehend
• Greek: προηγούμενος (el) m (proïgoúmenos)
• Hebrew: קוֹדֵם m (qodém)
• Hindi: पिछला (hi) (pichlā)
• Hungarian: előző (hu), megelőző (hu)
• Ido: antea (io)
• Italian: previo (it)
• Japanese: 前の (ja) (まえの, mae no)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: មុន (km) (mun), បុព្វេ (km) (boppei)
• Korean: 이전의 (ko) (ijeonui)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ,

• Lao: ກ່ອນ (kǭn), ບຸບເພ (bup phē), ກີ້ (lo) (kī)
• Latin: prior (la), antiquus (la)
• Lithuanian: ankstesnis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forrige, foregående

  Nynorsk: førre, føregåande

• Old English: forestapol
• Persian: پیشین (fa) (pišin)
• Polish: poprzedni (pl), ubiegły (pl)
• Portuguese: prévio (pt)
• Russian: предыду́щий (ru) (predydúščij), про́шлый (ru) (próšlyj)
• Spanish: previo (es), anterior (es)
• Swedish: förra (sv), föregående (sv)
• Thai: ก่อนหน้านี้, ก่อน (th) (gɔ̀ɔn), ที่แล้ว (tîi-lɛ́ɛo), เก่า (th) (gào), เดิม (th) (dəəm), กี้ (th) (gîi)
• Tibetan: སྔོན་མ (sngon ma)
• Turkish: önceki (tr)
• Ukrainian: попере́дній (poperédnij), мину́лий (uk) (mynúlyj)
• Urdu: پچھلا (pichlā)
• Vietnamese: qua (vi)
• Welsh: blaenorol (cy)

premature

• Catalan: prematur
• Dutch: voorbarig (nl)
• Persian: نابه هنگام (nâbehangâm)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: przedwczesny (pl)
• Swedish: tidig (sv)

Noun

previous (uncountable)

1. (informal, UK) An existing criminal record (short for "previous convictions")

   It turned out the shoplifter had a lot of previous.

2. (informal, UK) a track record of similar behaviour.
   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk

     For that Smalling will have to do his time grazing in the scapegoat’s paddock because his contribution here supplied hard evidence of a player lacking the football intelligence that is needed at the highest level. He has previous on that front and it is difficult to find any mitigation for the way he scythed down James Milner when the first rule for a defender on a yellow card is not to dive in unless it is absolutely necessary.

Anagrams

• pervious, viperous