How to Use antecedent in a Sentence

antecedent

noun
Definition of antecedentnext
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  • Some of the nine songs on the recording have literary antecedents.
    — Martin Johnson, WSJ, 13 Mar. 2018
  • King is well aware that the series’ antecedent is an uphill climb.
    — Abraham Riesman, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2021
  • The second is is the verb for the pronoun who, whose antecedent in this sentence is people.
    — Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Mar. 2021
  • But our family home did have its own antecedent to the home office.
    — Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, The New Republic, 3 Aug. 2020
  • One problem in the creation of a new East German canon was the lack of antecedents.
    — Joanna Biggs, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2023
  • All this mistrust, of course, has its own origins and antecedents.
    — James Poniewozik, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2020
  • The traits that endeared him to the movement have clear historical antecedents.
    — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 23 Feb. 2018
  • Surely the random choice was not made in zero time, without any antecedents.
    — Quanta Magazine, 22 Nov. 2019
  • The principal problem seems to be a deeper antecedent offense.
    — Joan Biskupic, CNN, 24 Oct. 2021
  • The infrastructure of 5G costs far more than that of its antecedents.
    — The Economist, 28 Mar. 2018
  • In the years since the profile and the antecedent divorce, Jolie has continued to struggle to find her audience.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2022
  • In the end, no modern politician is a perfect reincarnation of his or her antecedents.
    — Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 23 Mar. 2017
  • Grimm’s female figurines have grown up, found their own voice, and are much less delicate than their antecedents.
    — Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Dec. 2017
  • People do things because an antecedent prompts that behavior.
    — George Bradt, Forbes, 9 Aug. 2022
  • There is no mythical antecedent to David smugly carrying his beer gut like a womb.
    — New York Times, 5 Aug. 2022
  • The royal family disapproved of him marrying a girl whose antecedents weren’t known, and so she was chased off.
    — Shalini Dore, Variety, 4 May 2023
  • Certain conservatives posit that the lack of God in public schools is a direct antecedent to school shootings.
    — Alex Siquig, GQ, 1 Mar. 2018
  • These types of threats are usually antecedents to real violence.
    — Erin Woo, The Mercury News, 9 Aug. 2019
  • Yet at the same time, Lena represents a genuine antecedent to the protagonists of the mixed Asian novel.
    — Vulture, 27 Sep. 2022
  • Joke’s on me — there is no reference point, no explicit antecedent.
    — Murray Whyte, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Aug. 2022
  • But an antecedent question should be: What in the first place is causing these people to migrate thousands of miles, often at the risk of their own lives?
    — Sami J. Karam, National Review, 21 Aug. 2017
  • Now, with the good wishes of all estates, Mr. Rankin has completed the work of his esteemed antecedent.
    — Tom Nolan, WSJ, 29 July 2022
  • Image Rist’s feather obsession turns out to have rich antecedents.
    — Joshua Hammer, New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • The look maintains its antecedent’s simple shapes but replaces the restrained palette of neutrals and natural wood with pastels.
    — Dale Hrabi and Nina Molina, WSJ, 4 Aug. 2022
  • Which seems like a cheeky bit of wordplay until one remembers that the word has a historical antecedent with important context.
    — Andrew Zaleski, Curbed, 3 Oct. 2018
  • The sequel is a more explicit künstlerroman than its antecedent.
    — Jennifer Wilson, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2022
  • But he was also steeped in its antecedents: Toho monster films, Voltron, decades of sci-fi.
    — Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 22 Mar. 2018
  • Trump’s assassination of Soleimani, of course, has its own antecedents.
    — Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic, 8 Jan. 2020
  • At any moment, elements of these antecedents may erupt through the skin of the modern tale, as if to say that the current crisis for young black men is a tragedy too big for one era to encompass.
    — Jesse Green, New York Times, 18 June 2018
  • There are concerns that the hot, dry atmosphere, combined with parched antecedent conditions, could support the risk of wildfire.
    — Matthew Cappucci, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Aug. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'antecedent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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