antecedent

an·te·ce·dent

A0327400 (ăn′tĭ-sēd′nt)adj. Going before; preceding.n.1. One that precedes another.2. a. A preceding occurrence, cause, or event. See Synonyms at cause.b. antecedents The important events and occurrences in one's early life.3. antecedents One's ancestors.4. Grammar The word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to, as the children in The teacher asked the children where they were going.5. Mathematics The first term of a ratio.6. Logic The conditional member of a hypothetical proposition.

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an′te·ce′dent·ly adv.

antecedent

(ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt) n1. an event, circumstance, etc, that happens before another2. (Grammar) grammar a word or phrase to which a pronoun refers. In the sentence "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," people is the antecedent of who3. (Logic) logic the hypothetical clause, usually introduced by "if", in a conditional statement: that which implies the other4. (Mathematics) maths an obsolescent name for numerator¹5. (Logic) denying the antecedent logic the fallacy of inferring the falsehood of the consequent of a conditional statement, given the truth of the conditional and the falsehood of its antecedent, as if there are five of them, there are more than four: there are not five, so there are not more than fouradjpreceding in time or order; prior

an•te•ced•ent

(ˌæn təˈsid nt)

adj. 1. preceding; prior: an antecedent event. n. 2. a preceding circumstance, event, object, phenomenon, etc.; precursor. 3. antecedents, a. ancestors. b. the history, events, conditions, etc., of one's earlier life. 4. a word, phrase, or clause, usu. a substantive, that is replaced, usu. later, by a pronoun or other substitute, as Jane and glove in Jane lost a glove and she can't find it. 5. Math. a. the first term of a ratio; the first or third term of a proportion. b. the first of two vectors in a dyad. 6. the conditional element in a proposition introduced by “if.” Compare consequent (def. 5). [1350–1400; Middle English (< Middle French) < Latin antecēdent-, s. of antecēdēns, present participle of antecēdere to antecede] an`te•ced′en•cy, adv. an•te•ce•den•tal (ˌæn tə siˈdɛn tl) adj. an`te•ced′ent•ly, adv.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	antecedent - someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)ancestor, ascendant, ascendent, rootancestress - a woman ancestorforbear, forebear - a person from whom you are descendedforefather, sire, father - the founder of a family; "keep the faith of our forefathers"foremother - a woman ancestorprimogenitor, progenitor - an ancestor in the direct linerelative, relation - a person related by blood or marriage; "police are searching for relatives of the deceased"; "he has distant relations back in New Jersey"
	2.	antecedent - a preceding occurrence or cause or eventcause - events that provide the generative force that is the origin of something; "they are trying to determine the cause of the crash"
	3.	antecedent - anything that precedes something similar in time; "phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience"forerunnertemporal relation - a relation involving time
	4.	antecedent - the referent of an anaphor; a phrase or clause that is referred to by an anaphoric pronounreferent - something referred to; the object of a reference
Adj.	1.	antecedent - preceding in time or orderpreceding - existing or coming beforesubsequent - following in time or order; "subsequent developments"

antecedent

adjective1. preceding, earlier, former, previous, prior, preliminary, foregoing, anterior, precursory They were allowed to take account of antecedent legislation.
preceding later, following, succeeding, subsequent, successive, ensuing, consequent, after, posteriorplural noun1. ancestors, family, line, stock, blood, descent, extraction, ancestry, forebears, forefathers, genealogy, progenitors a Frenchman with Irish antecedents2. past, history, background a series of conditions or antecedents which may have contributed to the situation

antecedent

adjective1. Going before:advance, anterior, earlier, precedent, preceding, previous, prior.2. Just gone by or elapsed:anterior, earlier, foregoing, former, past, precedent, preceding, previous, prior.noun1. One that precedes, as in time:ancestor, forerunner, precursor, predecessor, progenitor.2. That which produces an effect:cause, occasion.3. A person from whom one is descended:ancestor, ascendant, father, forebear, forefather, foremother, mother, parent, progenitor.Archaic: predecessor.

Translations

antecedenteantécédentprécédentantecedente