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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Antecedent


ANTECE'DENT, adjective Going before in time; prior; anterior; preceding; as, an event antecedent to the deluge.

ANTECE'DENT, noun That which goes before in time; hence in writings, that which precedes in place. In grammar, the noun to which a relative or other substitute refers; as, Solomon was the prince, who built the Temple. In logic, the first of two propositions in an enthymeme, or argument of two propositions; as, if the sun is fixed, the earth must move. Here the first and conditional proposition is the antecedent; the second, the consequent.

In mathematics, the first of two terms of a ratio, or that which is compared with the other.