antecedents

Noun

antecedent (plural antecedents)

1. Any thing that precedes another thing, especially the cause of the second thing.

   Synonyms:

   precedent, precursor

2. An ancestor.
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   ascendant, ascendent, forebear, forefather, forerunner, predecessor, progenitor

3. A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun or other pro-form.
   • [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 personal1926, 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
4. The conditional part of a hypothetical proposition, i.e. p→q, where p is the antecedent, and q is the consequent.
5. The first of two subsets of a sequent, consisting of all the sequent's formulae which are valuated as true.
6. The first term of a ratio, i.e. the term a in the ratio a:b, the other being the consequent.

See all 9 meanings of antecedent