antecedent
antecedent — adjective
- antecedentpositive
- more antecedentcomparative
- most antecedentsuperlative
1. coming before another thing in time, order, or development.
coming before another thing in time, order, or development.
Doctors looked for antecedent illnesses before Mei's heart surgery.
formal adjective before noun: antecedent illnesses
The judge asked whether any antecedent agreement still bound the partners.
Heavy rain was antecedent to the landslide above the village.
The report begins with antecedent events from the week before the crash.
- subsequent
formal; coming after something else
- following
coming later in order or time
文法句型
antecedent + noun
be antecedent to + noun
用法筆記
Mostly used in formal or technical writing, often directly before a noun. In everyday English, people usually choose 'earlier' or 'previous' instead.
antecedent — noun
- antecedentsingular
- antecedentsplural
1. an earlier person, thing, event, or condition that comes before another one and
an earlier person, thing, event, or condition that comes before another one and often helps bring it about.
Historians see the tax protests as an antecedent of the later revolt.
pattern: antecedent of + later event
The long drought was an antecedent to the food shortage.
pattern: antecedent to + result
Teachers discussed childhood stress as a possible antecedent of later addiction.
The small kitchen fire was an antecedent of the larger disaster.
- precursor
often stresses an early sign or stage before something later
- forerunner
suggests something that comes before and points toward what follows
- predecessor
can simply mean an earlier version or holder, with less focus on cause
- result
what comes after the earlier cause
- consequence
the outcome produced by something earlier
文法句型
an antecedent of something
an antecedent to something
用法筆記
Common in formal discussion of history, logic, or cause and effect. It often points to something that helps explain a later result, not simply anything that happened earlier.
常見錯誤
2. a noun, noun phrase, name, or clause that a later pronoun points back to.
a noun, noun phrase, name, or clause that a later pronoun points back to.
In 'Mina lost her keys,' 'Mina' is the antecedent of 'her.'
grammar term: antecedent of a pronoun
In class, Noor circled each antecedent before underlining its pronoun.
In 'the boy who waved,' 'the boy' is the antecedent of 'who.'
The worksheet asked Christopher to match every pronoun with its antecedent.
文法句型
the antecedent of a pronoun
pronoun + antecedent
用法筆記
Used in grammar and language teaching. The antecedent usually appears earlier in the sentence, although writers sometimes mention the pronoun first and identify the antecedent later.
常見錯誤
3. a family member from long ago who belongs to the line you come from.
a family member from long ago who belongs to the line you come from.
Saira found an antecedent in church records from a nineteenth-century fishing town.
formal family-history use
The museum traced the king's antecedents through old marriage records.
Eshe hopes to learn whether her Scottish antecedents farmed this valley.
A family story says one antecedent sailed to Taiwan from Fujian.
- descendant
a person who comes later in the family line
文法句型
an antecedent of someone
family antecedents
用法筆記
This sense is formal and less common than 'ancestor'. It often appears in historical or family-record writing, and the plural 'antecedents' can mean a person's family background.