as in previous
existing at an earlier time; existing before something else
The insurance does not cover preexisting medical conditions. They made changes to the preexisting law.
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as in preceding
to go or come before in time
an advanced Mesoamerican civilization whose apex and collapse preexisted the arrival of Europeans by hundreds of years
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Recent Examples of preexisting
Mike Dojc, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Bottle episodes are designed to save money for more ambitious episodes elsewhere in a season through some combination of only using preexisting sets, hiring few (if any) guest actors, and not doing time-consuming set pieces.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025
Hospitals and clinics across my district are seeing higher rates of respiratory distress, particularly among vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions.
—Kenton Gewecke, ABC News, 4 Aug. 2025
My collaborators have preexisting software, which will, every night, get new observations of all the small bodies and objects in the solar system.
—Darryl Z. Seligman, The Conversation, 3 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for preexisting
Adjective
The winner of the Australian, Hong Kong, Japan, Scottish (merely formalizing a preexisting path) South African and Spanish Open will punch a ticket into both majors.
—Mike Dojc, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Bottle episodes are designed to save money for more ambitious episodes elsewhere in a season through some combination of only using preexisting sets, hiring few (if any) guest actors, and not doing time-consuming set pieces.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025
Hospitals and clinics across my district are seeing higher rates of respiratory distress, particularly among vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions.
—Kenton Gewecke, ABC News, 4 Aug. 2025
My collaborators have preexisting software, which will, every night, get new observations of all the small bodies and objects in the solar system.
—Darryl Z. Seligman, The Conversation, 3 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for preexisting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for preexisting
Adjective
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Additionally, infrastructure already weakened by previous flooding may be increasingly unreliable.—
Robert Birsel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
-
Spanberger and Sherrill won more votes than any previous Democratic nominee for governor of their states.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Ladd was married three times, her final husband Robert Charles Hunter preceding her in death earlier this year.—
Jenna Prestininzi,
Freep.com,
4 Nov. 2025
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An invite-only audience of industry voters will attend, with a cocktail reception preceding the panel discussions.—
Whitney Cinkala,
Variety,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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That’s because precedent changes in small but important ways all the time.—
Sonja Sharp,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Feb. 2025
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This adaptation demands re-conceiving large chunks of plot from the ground-up while retaining Liu’s themes, not to mention visualizing concepts with less precedent onscreen than the fantasy tropes Martin deployed and subverted.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
9 Mar. 2024
Adjective
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His initial coping mechanism was to throw his water bottle in frustration.—
Roshane Thomas,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
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The items collect dust, and the space is rarely revisited after the initial setup until the holidays come around.—
Lauren Bengtson,
Better Homes & Gardens,
25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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During which Helm suffered loneliness, inconsequence and ignorance – an original and terrible fugue state.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
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Authorities did not release the owner’s identity or the monkeys’ original destination, citing confidentiality agreements.—
Greg Wehner,
FOXNews.com,
2 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Preexisting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/preexisting. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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