meaning of: antecedent

An antecedent is an expression (word, phrase, clause, etc.) that gives its meaning to a pro-form (pronoun, pro-verb, pro-adverb, etc.). A pro-form takes its meaning from its antecedent, e.g. Susan arrived late because traffic held her up. The pronoun her refers to and takes its meaning from Susan, so Susan is the antecedent of her. Pro-forms usually follow their antecedents, but sometimes they precede them, in which case one is, technically, dealing with postcedentsinstead of antecedents. The prefix ante- means 'before' or 'in front of', and post- means 'after' or 'behind'.