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GRE vocabulary

antecedent

nounCommon GRE wordMore A words

something that comes before and influences what follows

Word origin: From Latin antecedere, to go before (ante- before, plus cedere to go).

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In a sentence

Antecedent in a sentence

Here are example sentences showing antecedent in a sentence.

Historians traced the revolution's antecedents to decades of economic strain.

The judge cited an antecedent ruling from a similar case decided two decades earlier.

Synonyms
precursorforerunnerpredecessor
Antonyms
consequencesuccessorresult

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Verbal · Text Completion

The historian argued that the empire's collapse was not blank but the predictable outcome of decades of fiscal mismanagement that contemporaries had simply refused to acknowledge.

Select the word that best completes the sentence.

Usage & nuance

Using “antecedent” well

Antecedent means something that comes before, often as a cause, precedent, or source. In grammar it is the noun a pronoun refers back to; in argument it is the prior claim a conclusion rests on.

Common questions

Questions about “antecedent”

Antecedent (noun) means something that comes before and influences what follows
Here is antecedent used in an example sentence: "Historians traced the revolution's antecedents to decades of economic strain." Another example: "The judge cited an antecedent ruling from a similar case decided two decades earlier."
Common synonyms for antecedent include precursor, forerunner, predecessor.
Antonyms of antecedent include consequence, successor, result.
Pair antecedent with precursor, forerunner, and precedent in Sentence Equivalence, opposing successor, sequel, and consequence.
Antecedent is a GRE-level vocabulary word worth knowing for the Verbal section.

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