predated; predating; predates
: to prey on (something or someone)
Animals predate other animals in nature, but that is hardly commensurate with a massive worldwide farming industry that breeds species purely for our purpose.—
Jenny Diski
Jenny DiskiAre high-profile men that sexually predate women finally starting to lose immunity?—Alex McKinnon
Alex McKinnonAll cats may predate but those living indoors have little opportunity to do so.—Kevin Stafford
Kevin StaffordThere are many species that predate on pigeons and doves.—Revati
RevatiExamples of predate in a Sentence
Verb (1)
modes of transportation that predate the car
the native people who predated European settlers in America
Recent Examples on the Web
Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 24 Jan. 2026
The same thing can be said about the narrowcast programming on public-access television, which, at its best, vibrated with sui generis excitement that predated and forecasted the early uncharted territory of the internet.
—Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 24 Jan. 2026
That campaign was based on a survey that predated Apple’s release of iOS 26, which added both text scam filtering and call filtering to iPhone for the first time.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
But the underlying concept of the meme arguably predates Dawkins — humans have long used symbols to pass along ideas, as The New York Times noted in 2022.
—Miriam Fauzia, Dallas Morning News, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for predate
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Verb
However, the Colombian genome predates these by several thousand years, indicating that the pathogen was circulating earlier than scientists had previously understood.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 24 Jan. 2026
The same thing can be said about the narrowcast programming on public-access television, which, at its best, vibrated with sui generis excitement that predated and forecasted the early uncharted territory of the internet.
—Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 24 Jan. 2026
That campaign was based on a survey that predated Apple’s release of iOS 26, which added both text scam filtering and call filtering to iPhone for the first time.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
But the underlying concept of the meme arguably predates Dawkins — humans have long used symbols to pass along ideas, as The New York Times noted in 2022.
—Miriam Fauzia, Dallas Morning News, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for predate
Cite this Entry
“Predate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predate. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
predate
verb
pre·date
(ˈ)prē-ˈdāt 
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