All 3 Uses of
antecedent
in
Ulysses, by James Joyce
- The hypothesis of a plasmic memory, advanced by the Caledonian envoy and worthy of the metaphysical traditions of the land he stood for, envisaged in such cases an arrest of embryonic development at some stage antecedent to the human.†
Chpt 14 *
- The right temporal lobe of the hollow sphere of his cranium came into contact with a solid timber angle where, an infinitesimal but sensible fraction of a second later, a painful sensation was located in consequence of antecedent sensations transmitted and registered.†
Chpt 17
- With strain, elevating a candlestick: with pain, feeling on his right temple a contused tumescence: with attention, focussing his gaze on a large dull passive and a slender bright active: with solicitation, bending and downturning the upturned rugfringe: with amusement, remembering Dr Malachi Mulligan's scheme of colour containing the gradation of green: with pleasure, repeating the words and antecedent act and perceiving through various channels of internal sensibility the consequent and concomitant tepid pleasant diffusion of gradual discolouration.†
Chpt 17
Definitions:
-
(1)
(antecedent) something that happened previous to something else; or anything that precedes something
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely and more specifically, antecedent can take on these specialized meanings:
Grammar: a word or phrase that precedes a pronoun and to which the pronoun refers. In She is the best at math in her grade, the pronoun her refers to the antecedent she.
Logic: a condition in a hypothetical proposition such as If all people are moral, then you are mortal.
Genealogy: All of someone's ancestors.
For less common examples, including one in math, see a comprehensive dictionary.