an·te·date
ˈan-ti-ˌdāt 
: a date assigned to an event or document earlier than the actual date of the event or document
an·te·date
ˈan-ti-ˌdāt
ˌan-ti-ˈdāt
antedated; antedating; antedates
1
a
: to date as of a time prior to that of execution
b
: to assign to a date prior to that of actual occurrence
2
archaic
: anticipate
3
: to precede in time
Did you know?
Dinosaurs antedated the first human beings by almost 65 million years, though this stubborn fact never used to stop cartoonists and screenwriters from having the two species inhabit the same story line. Dictionary editors are constantly noticing how the oral use of a word may antedate its first appearance in print by a number of years. Antedating a check or a contract isn't illegal unless it's done for the purpose of fraud (the same is true of its opposite, postdating).
Examples of antedate in a Sentence
Verb
The church antedates the village itself.
dinosaurs antedate humans by millions of years
Recent Examples on the Web
Ben Ehrenreich, The New Republic, 17 Oct. 2019
His theatrically posed male nudes were antedated by George Platt Lynes’s.
—Arthur Lubow, New York Times, 25 July 2019
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Verb
In truth, however, Italy’s migration policies antedate Salvini by at least two years, and represent an ugly consensus generally if more quietly shared by many powers in the EU.
—Ben Ehrenreich, The New Republic, 17 Oct. 2019
His theatrically posed male nudes were antedated by George Platt Lynes’s.
—Arthur Lubow, New York Times, 25 July 2019
Cite this Entry
“Antedate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antedate. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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