precedent
1pre·ce·dent
adjective \pri-ˈsē-dənt, ˈpre-sə-dənt\Definition of PRECEDENT
: prior in time, order, arrangement, or significance
Examples of PRECEDENT
- <behavior that may be explained by a precedent event in her troubled life>
Origin of PRECEDENT
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin praecedent-, praecedens, present participle of praecedere (see precede)
First Known Use: 15th century
Related to PRECEDENT
- Antonyms
- after, ensuing, following, later, posterior, subsequent, succeeding
2prec·e·dent
noun \ˈpre-sə-dənt\Definition of PRECEDENT
1
: an earlier occurrence of something similar
2
3
: a person or thing that serves as a model
Examples of PRECEDENT
- The judge's ruling was based on a precedent established by an earlier decision.
- He says that the government will set a dangerous precedent if it refuses to allow the protesters to hold a rally.
- The judge's ruling was based on legal precedent.
- Suddenly, against all historical precedent just for that week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency would have morphed into a well-organized and dependable outfit. —John McWhorter, National Review, 26 Sept. 2005
- On July 12, in an action that seems to have been without precedent, the House voted, 355-0, to condemn a scientific article. —Jonathan Rauch, National Journal, 7 Aug. 1999
- In cases close-run enough to require the Supreme court to decide them, precedent and principle are elastic enough, or complex enough, that justices can often decide either way without brazenly contradicting themselves. —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New Republic, 20 & 27 Sept. 1993
- We begin to appreciate the mystery when we realize that the act of naming, or denotation, is generically without precedent in natural history. —Walker Percy, “Naming And Being,” 1960, in Signposts in a Strange Land, 1991
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Origin of PRECEDENT
(see 1precedent)
First Known Use: 15th century
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