Antecedent Meaning
/ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjEarlier, either in time or in order.
adjPresumptive.
Sentence Examples
When the antecedent is this, that, these or those it is usual to use 'which'.
If we alter the construction of such sentences, the missing antecedent is often restored.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The historian traced the conflict back to an ____ event from a century earlier.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In the sentence 'he saw the cat', the cat is the ____ for 'it'.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English antecedent, borrowed from Old French antecedent, from Latin antecēdēns (“going before”), from antecēdō (“to precede; excel; surpass”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The Boston agent added that this clerk was a young man of wholly unquestioned veracity and reliability, of known antecedents and long with the company."
— 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 3, in The Whisperer in Darkness:
"[W]hereas 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"
— 1926, H. W. Fowler, “that rel. pron.”, in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, reprint of the first edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 634, column 2:
"One such condition can be formulated in terms of the c-command relation defined in (9) above: the relevant condition is given in (16) below:
(16) C-COMMAND CONDITION ON ANAPHORS
An anaphor must have an appropriate c-commanding antecedent"
— 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 117:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The historian traced the conflict back to an ____ event from a century earlier.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In the sentence 'he saw the cat', the cat is the ____ for 'it'.