1
- a thing or event that existed before or logically precedes another前事, 前身：
some antecedents to the African novel might exist in Africa's oral traditions.
某些非洲小说的前身也许存在于非洲口头传说中。
1.1
antecedents
a person's ancestors or family and social background祖先; 社会与家庭背景：her early life and antecedents have been traced.
已经查到了她的早期生活和家庭与社会背景。
1.2
- Grammar an earlier word, phrase, or clause to which another word (especially a following relative pronoun) refers back【语法】先行词（或短语、从句）。
1.3
- Logic the statement contained in the'if'clause of a conditional proposition【逻】前件。
1
- preceding in time or order; previous or pre-existing先时的; 先前的：
the antecedent events that prompt you to break a diet.
促使你中断节食的先前事件。
1.1
- denoting or counting as a grammatical antecedent（语法）先行的。
派生词
antecedence
nounantecedently
adverb词源
late Middle English: from Old French or from Latin antecedent- 'going before'， from antecedere, from ante 'before' + cedere 'go'.