[a. Fr. antécédent (see next), subst. use of the adj. Already in L. antecēdens was used subst. as a term of philosophy, and in this technical sense it first appeared in the modern languages.]
1. A thing or circumstance that goes before or precedes in time or order; often also implying causal relation with its consequent. a. generally.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus i. 11 (1619). That there may be full content with it selfe, the antecedents and consequents.
c. 1680. in Somers, Tracts, II. 548. Consider the Antecedents to the calling the Convention.
1688. South, Serm. Matt. xxii. 12, in 12 Serm. (1694), 403 (J.). It is … the Necessary Antecedent, if not also the direct Cause of a Sinner’s Return to God.
1824. Coleridge, Aids to Refl. (1848), I. 92. Conscience is the ground and antecedent of human (or self-) consciousness, and not any modification of the latter.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), III. iii. 130. Circumstances … governed by a long chain of antecedents.
Hence, in various special applications, of which the logical and grammatical are the earliest uses of the word in Eng.
b. Logic. (Opposed to consequent.) The statement upon which any consequence logically depends; hence († a) The premisses of a syllogism (obs.); (b) The part of a conditional proposition on which the other depends. († c) By some early logicians the subject and predicate were called antecedent and consequent.
c. 1400. Test. Love, II. (1560), 284 b/1. The consequence is false, needes the antecedent mote beene of the same condition.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. ii. 67. [I] grantis … þe Antecedens Bot I deny þe consequens.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 324/1. You have shewn us the antecedent, now let us have the ergo.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 161. Ramus doth call the subiect, and the predicate … antecedent, and consequent: but very vnduely.
a. 1665. J. Goodwin, Filled w. Spirit (1867), 19: Let the word person in the antecedent of the proposition be supposed to signify either something or nothing.
1870. Bowen, Logic, v. 128. All Hypothetical Judgments obviously consist of two parts, the first of which is called the Condition or Antecedent.
c. Gram. (a) The noun to which a following pronoun refers, and to avoid the repetition of which it is used. (b) esp. The substantive (word, clause or sentence) to which a relative pronoun or adverb points back, and to which the relative clause stands in an attributive or adjective relation.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 364. Adjectif and substantif Acordeþ in alle Kyndes · with his antecedent.
1523. Whitinton, Vulg., 2. The relatyue of substaunce shall accorde with his antecedent.
1655. Gouge, Comm. Hebr. i. 10. This relative ‘Thou’ must have an antecedent.
1765. W. Ward, Ess. Eng. Gram., III. i. 128. The connexion of a personal pronoun with its antecedent, is very different from that of a relative pronoun.
1876. Mason, Eng. Gram., 51. In the nominative and objective cases, what is never preceded by an antecedent.
d. Math. The first of two numbers or magnitudes between which a ratio is expressed; the first and third in a series of four proportionals.
1570. Billingsley, Eucl., v. def. 3. The first Terme, namely, that which is compared, is called the antecedent.
1695. Alingham, Geom. Epit., 14. In the Comparison of 7 to 3, 7 is named the Antecedent, and 3 the Consequent.
1862. Todhunter, Euclid, VI. iv. Those [sides] which are opposite to the equal angles are homologous sides, that is, are the antecedents or the consequents of the ratios.
e. Music. (See quot.)
1869. Ouseley, Counterp., xv. 95. The leading part [in a Canon] is called the antecedent, the following part the consequent.
2. pl. The events of a person’s bygone history (usually, as affecting the position now to be accorded him); also used of institutions, etc.
1841. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc., VI. 237. They will … sift what the French call their antecedents, with the most scrupulous nicety.
1854. De Quincey, Selections, ii. 86. What modern slang denominates his antecedents.
1864. J. H. Newman, Apol., 106. Froude and I were nobodies; with … no antecedents to fetter us.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Organ., § 4. 111. Young fellows unacquainted with the antecedents of the estates.
3. concr. A predecessor in the chain of development; an earlier form. rare.
1865. Lecky, Rational. (1878), I. 254. A wind instrument which some have placed among the antecedents of the organ.
† 4. lit. A person who walks in front; an usher, an ANTEAMBULO. Obs.
1608. Day, Hum. out of Br., II. ii. Boy. I say a seruingman is an antecedent. Oct. Because he sits before a cloakebag.
1632. Massinger, City Madam, II. ii. My antecedent, or my gentleman-usher.
