| to be in agreement or conformity often fol. by with or to: |
| to prove the truth of, as by evidence or testimony; confirm; substantiate: |
antecedent (ˌæntɪˈsiːdənt) ![]() | |
| —n | |
| 1. | an event, circumstance, etc, that happens before another |
| 2. | grammar a word or phrase to which a pronoun refers. In the sentence "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," people is the antecedent of who |
| 3. | logic the hypothetical clause, usually introduced by "if", in a conditional statement: that which implies the other |
| 4. | maths an obsolescent name for numerator |
| 5. | logic denying the antecedent the fallacy of inferring the falsehood of the consequent of a conditional statement, given the truth of the conditional and the falsehood of its antecedent, as if there are five of them, there are more than four: there are not five, so there are not more than four |
| —adj | |
| 6. | preceding in time or order; prior |
antecedent an·te·ce·dent (ān'tĭ-sēd'nt)
n.
A precursor.