[an-tuh-seed-nt] 
| 1. | preceding; prior: an antecedent event. |
| 2. | a preceding circumstance, event, object, style, phenomenon, etc. |
| 3. | antecedents,
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| 4. | Grammar. a word, phrase, or clause, usually a substantive, that is replaced by a pronoun or other substitute later, or occasionally earlier, in the same or in another, usually subsequent, sentence. In Jane lost a glove and she can't find it, Jane is the antecedent of she and glove is the antecedent of it. |
| 5. | Mathematics.
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| 6. | Logic. the conditional element in a proposition, as “Caesar conquered Gaul,” in “If Caesar conquered Gaul, he was a great general.” |
[an-tuh-see-den-tl] , adjective antecedent an·te·ce·dent (ān'tĭ-sēd'nt)
n.
A precursor.