Noun

{{examples-right, sense=linguistics: expression referred to by pronoun, examples= * In “The policeman asked the boy what he was doing.”, the phrase “the boy” is the antecedent of the pronoun “he”. * In the sentence “I saw my girlfriend yesterday wearing her old jacket which is odd because she almost never wears it.”, the phrase “my girlfriend” is the antecedent of “her” and “old jacket” is the antecedent of “it”.}} (en noun)

Any thing that precedes another thing, especially the cause of the second thing.

An ancestor.

(grammar) A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun.

* Fowler

[W]hereas it might seem orderly that, as who'' is appropriated to persons, so ''that'' should have been appropriated to things the antecedent of ''that is often personal.

*

One such condition can be formulated in terms of the
c-command relation defined in (9) above: the relevant condition is given in (16)
below:
(16)    C-COMMAND CONDITION ON ANAPHORS
        An anaphor must have an appropriate c-commanding antecedent

(logic) The conditional part of a hypothetical proposition.

(rfex)

(math) The first term of a ratio, i.e. the term a'' in the ratio ''a:b , the other being the consequent.

Noun

(en noun)

One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow.

A person or other entity who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-10

, author=Audrey Garric , title=Urban canopies let nature bloom , volume=188, issue=22, page=30 , magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) citation , passage=As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.}}

Some people will consider their national heroes to be pioneers of civilization.

Certain politicians can be considered as pioneers of reform.

(obsolete, military)   A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances; a sapper.

A member of any of several European organizations advocating abstinence from alcohol.

(Communism)   A child of 10–16 years in the former Soviet Union, in the second of the three stages in becoming a member of the Communist Party.