Antecedent

Pronunciation

• IPA: /æntəˈsidnÌ©t/, /æn'tesÉ™dnÌ©t/

Origin

From Old French antecedent (French antécédent), from Latin antecēdēns ("go before"), from antecēdere ("to yield before").

Full definition of antecedent

Adjective

1. Earlier, either in time or order.an event antecedent to the Biblical Floodan antecedent cause
2. presumptivean antecedent improbability

Noun

1. Any thing that precedes another thing, especially the cause of the second thing.
2. An ancestor.
3. (grammar) A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun.
• FowlerWhereas 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 courseOne such condition can be formulated in terms of the
  c-command relation defined in (9) above: the relevant condition is given in (16)
  

1. (logic) The conditional part of a hypothetical proposition.
2. (math) The first term of a ratio, i.e. the term a in the ratio a:b, the other being the consequent.

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