formal someone or something existing or happening before, especially as the cause or origin of something existing or happening later(尤指作为后来存在或发生之事的起因或起源的)前事,前情,先例;祖先
Charles Babbage's mechanical calculating engines were the antecedents of the modern computer.查尔斯•巴贝奇的机械计算机是现代计算机的前身。
Many people feel a great curiosity to find out about their antecedents.很多人对于他们的祖先充满了好奇,很想探究一番。
specialized language a word or phrase that a pronoun refers back to先行词,前述词
In the sentence "He picked a book off the shelf and handed it to Sally", "book" is the antecedent of "it".在句子 He picked a book off the shelf and handed it to Sally 中,book 是 it 的先行词。