as in preceding
to go or come before in time
gunpowder predated the invention of the gun by several centuries
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Recent Examples of predating
Despite all the recent tech wealth and tech jobs and development growth, Seattle’s creative community has shrunken, a trend long predating COVID.
—
Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2025
Far predating meticulous records, the war sprawled across the civilian populations of many nations.
—Ellie Cook, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2025
The song goes back to 1965, predating my first reading of the script in 1985.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 6 Aug. 2025
Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2025
Far predating meticulous records, the war sprawled across the civilian populations of many nations.
—Ellie Cook, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2025
The song goes back to 1965, predating my first reading of the script in 1985.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predating
preceding
Verb
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That is a sharp contrast from the preceding five-year period, from 2014 to 2019, when median household income rose nearly 21%, according to Census data.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
9 Sep. 2025
-
The revisions will entail the 12-month period preceding March 2025.—
Alex Harring,
CNBC,
9 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Predating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predating. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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