Being before in time, place, rank, or logical order; prior; anterior; as, an event antecedent to the deluge.n. One who or that which goes before in time or place.n. In grammar: The noun to which a relative, pronoun refers: as, Solomon was the prince who built the temple, where the word prince is the antecedent of who. Formerly, the noun to which a following pronoun refers, and whose repetition is avoided by the use of the pronoun.n. In logic: That member of a conditional proposition of the form, “If A is, then B is,” which states, as a hypothesis, the condition of the truth of what is expressed in the other member, termed the consequent: in the proposition given the antecedent is “if A is.”n. The premise of a consequence, or syllogism in the first figure with the major premise suppressed.n. An event upon which another event follows.n. In mathematics, the first of two terms of a ratio, or that which is compared with the other. Thus, if the ratio is that of 2 to 3, or of a to b, 2 or a is the antecedent.n. In music, a passage proposed to be answered as the subject of a fugue.n. plural The earlier events or circumstances of one's life; one's origin, previous course, associations, conduct, or avowed principles.In physical geography, noting rivers or streams which have persisted in their courses in spite of an uplift of the land: thus the Meuse is an antecedent river, because it has persisted in its course by cutting a deep gorge through the uplifted area of the Ardennes.