Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AN-TE-CE'DENT, n.

That which goes before in time; hence in writings, that which precedes in place. In grammar, the noun to which a relative or other substitute refers; as, Solomon was the prince, who built the Temple. In logic, the first of two propositions in an enthymeme, or argument of two propositions; as, if the sun is fixed, the earth mus move. Here the first and conditional proposition is the antecedent; the second, the consequent. – Watts. In mathematics, the first of two terms of a ratio, or that which is compared with the other. – Encyc.