1
as in causes
someone or something responsible for a result
what are the antecedents of the American Revolutionary War?
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in forerunners
something belonging to an earlier time from which something else was later developed
the typewriter is the antecedent of the computer keyboard
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of antecedents
Many musical and social antecedents are responsible for its birth.
—
Literary Hub, 17 Feb. 2026
Went on to tackle malaria, and that process created both huge successes in modern public health, but also seeded the American public health system county by county across this country, and presented the antecedents of the Centers for Disease Control based in Atlanta.
—Christopher Dilella, CNBC, 17 Feb. 2026
The goal was to link American culture with its European antecedents—a heady way to justify shedding blood for another continent’s conflict.
—Colton Valentine, New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2026
For Ann Lee, an arthouse musical that counts among its closest antecedents Robert Eggers’ The Witch and the Björk-starring Dancer in the Dark, Blumberg reworked and retrofitted 10 traditional Shaker hymns, and recorded Seyfried and the other actors live on set.
—Walden Green, Pitchfork, 22 Jan. 2026
My poem works by multisequencing; in each of the three book-sections there are four narratives, and the reader must gather each piece of the narrative as it unspools and connect it to its antecedents—that yields compression.
—Ange Mlinko, The New York Review of Books, 23 Oct. 2025
The parallel plotlines involving Ali’s possible descendants and problematic antecedents, including a father (Ercan Kesal) who seems to be particularly abusive towards his wife, collide in highly unusual ways during the movie’s volatile second half.
—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Jan. 2025
Art-wise, there are antecedents.
—Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2025
Seeing around the bend in the river—or even knowing the river ahead does indeed bend—can require the sort of leap of faith that made Vannevar Bush insist that shamans, priests and spiritual seers are the antecedents of today’s engineering stars.
—IEEE Spectrum, 8 Aug. 2019
Literary Hub, 17 Feb. 2026
Went on to tackle malaria, and that process created both huge successes in modern public health, but also seeded the American public health system county by county across this country, and presented the antecedents of the Centers for Disease Control based in Atlanta.
—Christopher Dilella, CNBC, 17 Feb. 2026
The goal was to link American culture with its European antecedents—a heady way to justify shedding blood for another continent’s conflict.
—Colton Valentine, New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2026
For Ann Lee, an arthouse musical that counts among its closest antecedents Robert Eggers’ The Witch and the Björk-starring Dancer in the Dark, Blumberg reworked and retrofitted 10 traditional Shaker hymns, and recorded Seyfried and the other actors live on set.
—Walden Green, Pitchfork, 22 Jan. 2026
My poem works by multisequencing; in each of the three book-sections there are four narratives, and the reader must gather each piece of the narrative as it unspools and connect it to its antecedents—that yields compression.
—Ange Mlinko, The New York Review of Books, 23 Oct. 2025
The parallel plotlines involving Ali’s possible descendants and problematic antecedents, including a father (Ercan Kesal) who seems to be particularly abusive towards his wife, collide in highly unusual ways during the movie’s volatile second half.
—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Jan. 2025
Art-wise, there are antecedents.
—Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2025
Seeing around the bend in the river—or even knowing the river ahead does indeed bend—can require the sort of leap of faith that made Vannevar Bush insist that shamans, priests and spiritual seers are the antecedents of today’s engineering stars.
—IEEE Spectrum, 8 Aug. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for antecedents
Noun
-
The condition isn't fully understood, as causes can range from mild to moderate head trauma, to pre-existing inner ear diseases, and treatment is confined largely to a physical therapy exercise called the Epley maneuver.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
4 Mar. 2026
-
Other cast members have died from substance abuse or natural causes.—
Tracy Brown,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
And these projects may just be the forerunners.—
Andy Sheehan,
CBS News,
17 Feb. 2026
-
With little support for the WHO among Republicans — who control both the House and the Senate — there has been no push from Congress to hold the country to the provision set out by their forerunners.—
Helen Branswell,
STAT,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
This approach embodies the upstream vision of addressing social determinants of health—creating the conditions for people to thrive physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Plus there are topics in precalculus such as matrices, determinants, vectors and solving nonlinear systems of equations that students don’t need for Calculus I.—
Tammi Marshall,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
18 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The point is to have enough free-ranging bison to provide tribal members with the hunts, the food, and the presence that connect them to their ancestors.—
Christine Peterson,
Outdoor Life,
5 Mar. 2026
-
Intelligent, tool-using species — including our direct ancestors — have been around for millions of years.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The first is that Golden Globe winner Stellan Skarsgård missed at SAG, so his race at the precursors is run.—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2026
-
In Sinaloa, the home of the notorious cartel that shares the region's name, authorities seized over 1,650 pounds of meth and another stockpile of precursors.—
Kerry Breen,
CBS News,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Advertisement There’s no denying that the president has been a far more ardent champion of coal than his recent predecessors.—
Simmone Shah,
Time,
3 Mar. 2026
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And unlike their predecessors, many of these characters chose their at-home role.—
Eric Magnuson,
The Atlantic,
2 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Antecedents.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/antecedents. Accessed 6 Mar. 2026.
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