| Noun | 1. | antecedent - someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)relative, relation - a person related by blood or marriage; "police are searching for relatives of the deceased"; "he has distant relations back in New Jersey" | |
| 2. | antecedent - a preceding occurrence or cause or eventcause - events that provide the generative force that is the origin of something; "they are trying to determine the cause of the crash" | |
| 3. | antecedent - anything that precedes something similar in time; "phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience" | |
| 4. | antecedent - the referent of an anaphor; a phrase or clause that is referred to by an anaphoric pronounreferent - something referred to; the object of a reference | |
| Adj. | 1. | antecedent - preceding in time or ordersubsequent - following in time or order; "subsequent developments" | |