Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use before in a sentence

40 example sentences · preposition, adverb, conjunction

Before means earlier than (in time). Example: “I want this done before Monday.”

Examples of before by meaning

prepositionEarlier than (in time).

  • I want this done before Monday.

prepositionIn front of in space.

  • He stood before me.
  • We sat before the fire to warm ourselves.

prepositionIn the presence of.

  • He performed before the troops in North Africa.
  • He spoke before a joint session of Congress.

prepositionUnder consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).

  • The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule.

prepositionIn store for, in the future of (someone).

  • Your whole life is before you.
  • There is an Eternity behind thee as well as one before.1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 76

prepositionIn front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.

  • In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline".

prepositionAt a higher or greater position than, in a ranking.

  • An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, and amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations.

adverbAt an earlier time.

  • I've never done this before.
  • This achievement far exceeded anything that had come before.
  • Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

More sentences with before

  • Before we knew it, the forest was on us, and the air grew colder and damper.From the entry on
  • We need to obfuscate these classes before we ship the final release.From the entry obfuscate
  • The electromagnetic field does not drop all of the way to zero before a reversal.From the entry zero
  • Don't miss our November sale — it's your last chance to save big before Christmas!From the entry big
  • A wall of police officers met the protesters before they reached the capitol steps.From the entry wall
  • When you say last Monday, do you mean the Monday just gone, or the one before that?From the entry last
  • Clean the sink first, before you even think of starting to cook.From the entry first
  • You're early today! I don't usually see you before nine o'clock.From the entry early
  • This old text needs translation into modern English before it is published.From the entry translation
  • The soldiers had to acclimatize before starting operations in the desert.From the entry acclimatize
  • Let's get a quotation for repairing the roof before we decide whether it's worth doing.From the entry quotation
  • Before colonial times cowry shells imported from Mauritius were used as money in Western Africa.From the entry money
  • Her baby had always been active, even before he was born, when he would kick her bladder.From the entry baby
  • The bartender will have to ID you before serving you a drink.From the entry id
  • Borja, do you know Pilar? - Sure, we've actually met before.From the entry know
  • That gun’s not mine! It’s a plant! I’ve never seen it before!From the entry plant
  • This building used to be a church before being converted into a library.From the entry church
  • She sat on the bench for 30 years before she retired.From the entry bench
  • Be sure to finish your homework before you go to bed!From the entry finish
  • Conditioning would require exposition to any sentence before being uttered, which isn’t the case.From the entry case
  • Before the birth of the man's child, he said: "I want a son, not a daughter."From the entry son
  • The house got a complete going-over before the arrival of the in-laws.From the entry in-law
  • I like to let my tea cool before drinking it so I don't burn my tongue.From the entry cool
  • It was felt desirable that she not leave school before fourteen.From the entry not
  • I got by on hack work for years before I finally published my novel.From the entry hack
  • He jumped when he looked up to see a man standing before him.From the entry jump
  • She was terrified before the jump, but was thrilled to be skydiving.From the entry jump

Meaning of before

  1. preposition Earlier than (in time).
  2. preposition In front of in space.
  3. preposition In the presence of.

Full definition of before

Questions about before in a sentence

How do you use before in a sentence?
Before is used as a preposition, adverb and conjunction. For example: “I want this done before Monday.”
What is a short sentence with before?
“He stood before me.”
What does before mean?
Before means earlier than (in time).

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: before (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use before in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/before. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.