1 (formal 正式) a thing or an event that exists or comes before another, and may have influenced it 前事；前情

2 antecedents [pl] the people in sb's family who lived a long time ago 祖先 [SYN] ancestors 同义词为 ancestors

3 (grammar语法) a word or phrase to which the following word, especially a pronoun, refers 先行词；先行语: In ‘He grabbed the ball and threw it in the air’, ‘ball’ is the antecedent of ‘it’. 在 He grabbed the ball and threw it in the air 这一句中，ball 是 it 的先行词。