How to Use antecedent in a Sentence

antecedent

noun
  • King is well aware that the series’ antecedent is an uphill climb.
    — Abraham Riesman, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2021
  • All this mistrust, of course, has its own origins and antecedents.
    — James Poniewozik, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2020
  • But our family home did have its own antecedent to the home office.
    — Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, The New Republic, 3 Aug. 2020
  • Some of the nine songs on the recording have literary antecedents.
    — Martin Johnson, WSJ, 13 Mar. 2018
  • The second is is the verb for the pronoun who, whose antecedent in this sentence is people.
    — Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Mar. 2021
  • Surely the random choice was not made in zero time, without any antecedents.
    — Quanta Magazine, 22 Nov. 2019
  • The infrastructure of 5G costs far more than that of its antecedents.
    — The Economist, 28 Mar. 2018
  • Grimm’s female figurines have grown up, found their own voice, and are much less delicate than their antecedents.
    — Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 Dec. 2017
  • Joke’s on me — there is no reference point, no explicit antecedent.
    — Murray Whyte, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Aug. 2022
  • One problem in the creation of a new East German canon was the lack of antecedents.
    — Joanna Biggs, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2023
  • The traits that endeared him to the movement have clear historical antecedents.
    — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 23 Feb. 2018
  • There is no mythical antecedent to David smugly carrying his beer gut like a womb.
    — New York Times, 5 Aug. 2022
  • In the end, no modern politician is a perfect reincarnation of his or her antecedents.
    — Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 23 Mar. 2017
  • Image Rist’s feather obsession turns out to have rich antecedents.
    — Joshua Hammer, New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • The principal problem seems to be a deeper antecedent offense.
    — Joan Biskupic, CNN, 24 Oct. 2021
  • Trump’s assassination of Soleimani, of course, has its own antecedents.
    — Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic, 8 Jan. 2020
  • The royal family disapproved of him marrying a girl whose antecedents weren’t known, and so she was chased off.
    — Shalini Dore, Variety, 4 May 2023
  • There are multiple antecedents, but their interest is different from ours.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 31 Aug. 2016
  • Many musical and social antecedents are responsible for its birth.
    — Literary Hub, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Certain conservatives posit that the lack of God in public schools is a direct antecedent to school shootings.
    — Alex Siquig, GQ, 1 Mar. 2018
  • In the years since the profile and the antecedent divorce, Jolie has continued to struggle to find her audience.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2022
  • But Davis’ cadenza was not so much a jazz statement as a linkage between jazz and its antecedents in ancient Africa.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 15 June 2018
  • And topping the list of easy-to-make verb-agreement errors are what are called relative-pronoun-antecedent-agreement errors.
    — June Casagrande, Burbank Leader, 8 Aug. 2019
  • And does the Green Goblin also have a Shakespearean antecedent?
    — Charlotte Observer, 25 Feb. 2026
  • In the mid 18th century, the spire, an early antecedent of the one that collapsed last week, was removed because of wind damage.
    — Klara Glowczewska, Town & Country, 19 Apr. 2019
  • The look maintains its antecedent’s simple shapes but replaces the restrained palette of neutrals and natural wood with pastels.
    — Dale Hrabi and Nina Molina, WSJ, 4 Aug. 2022
  • The most important of of Smaug’s antecedents was Fafnir, a treasure-hoarding dragon from a Norse epic.
    — Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 21 Sep. 2017
  • Yet at the same time, Lena represents a genuine antecedent to the protagonists of the mixed Asian novel.
    — Vulture, 27 Sep. 2022
  • But in addition to being a catastrophe, what unfolded here is also an antecedent to a renaissance.
    — New York Times, 16 Mar. 2026
  • The hotel had a striking swimming pool, almost an antecedent to the modern-day infinity pool, with its views of the ocean below, as well as an outdoor bar.
    — CNN, 8 Dec. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'antecedent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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