antecedent

adj

1. (not-comparable)Earlier, either in time or in order.

   “an antecedent cause”

   “an event antecedent to the Biblical Flood”

2. (not-comparable)Presumptive.

   “an antecedent improbability”

noun

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

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 personal”

   “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”

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.
7. (in-plural)Previous principles, conduct, history, etc.