Preceding

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Precede \Pre*cede"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Preceded}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Preceding}.] [L. praecedere, praecessum; prae before
     + cedere to go, to be in motion: cf. F. pr['e]ceder. See
     {Pre-}, and {Cede}.]
     1. To go before in order of time; to occur first with
        relation to anything. "Harm precedes not sin." --Milton.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To go before in place, rank, or importance.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To cause to be preceded; to preface; to introduce; -- used
        with by or with before the instrumental object. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It is usual to precede hostilities by a public
              declaration.                          --Kent.
        [1913 Webster] Precedence

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Preceding \Pre*ced"ing\, a.
     1. Going before; -- opposed to following.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Astron.) In the direction toward which stars appear to
        move. See {Following}, 2.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  preceding
       adj 1: existing or coming before [syn: {preceding(a)}] [ant: {succeeding(a)}]
       2: preceding in time or order [syn: {antecedent}] [ant: {subsequent}]
       3: of a person who has held and relinquished a position or
          office; "a retiring member of the board" [syn: {past(a)},
          {preceding(a)}, {retiring(a)}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  78 Moby Thesaurus words for "preceding":
     above, advanced, aforegoing, aforementioned, ante, antecedence,
     antecedency, antecedent, anteposition, anterior, anteriority,
     anticipatory, avant-garde, chief, ci-devant, dominion, earlier,
     early, elder, ere, erstwhile, exordial, exploratory, first, fore,
     foregoing, foremost, former, front, front position, heading,
     headmost, heretofore, hitherto, in, inaugural, initiatory, last,
     latter, le pas, leading, older, original, other, past, precedence,
     precedency, precedent, precession, precessional, precurrent,
     precursive, precursor, precursory, preexistent, prefatory,
     preference, prefixation, preliminary, prelude, preludial,
     prelusive, preparatory, prevenient, previous, prime, prior,
     priority, proemial, propaedeutic, prothesis, senior, superiority,
     the lead, to, top priority, urgency, van