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I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

adj. antecedent, anterior; preceding, foregoing, former, prior. See priority. Ant., following.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

1. [Earlier]

Syn. preceding, prior, antecedent, former, foregoing, earlier, past; see also former , preceding .

2. [*Too early]

Syn. premature, unfounded, unwarranted; see early 2 .

Syn.- previous generally implies a coming before in time or order [ a previous encounter ] ; prior adds to this a connotation of greater importance or claim as a result of being first [ a prior commitment ] ; preceding , esp. when used with the definite article, implies a coming immediately before [ the preceding night ] ; antecedent often adds to the meaning of previous a connotation of direct causal relationship with what follows [ events antecedent to the war ] ; foregoing applies specif. to something previously said or written [ the foregoing examples ] ; former always connotes comParison, stated or implied, with what follows or is latter [ the former owner ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

prior, earlier, preceding, past, antecedent, anterior, erstwhile, aforementioned.

ANT.: future, succeeding, upcoming, ensuing

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective 1. Going before: advance, antecedent, anterior, earlier, precedent, preceding, prior. See PRECEDE. 2. Next before the present one: foregoing, last1, latter, preceding. See NEAR, PRECEDE. 3. Just gone by or elapsed: antecedent, anterior, earlier, foregoing, former, past, precedent, preceding, prior. See TIME. 4. Having been such previously: erstwhile, former, late, old, once, onetime, past, quondam, sometime, whilom. See PRECEDE.