Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: LINGUISTICS

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Latin
Origin: , present participle of antecedere, from ante- ( ANTE-) + cedere 'to go'

antecedent

 noun
     
an‧te‧ced‧ent [countable]
1 formal an event, organization, or thing that is similar to the one you have mentioned but existed earlier:
historical antecedents
2

antecedents

[plural] formal the people in your family who lived a long time ago [= ancestors]
3SL technical a word, phrase, or sentence that is represented by another word, for example a pronoun
—antecedent adjective
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