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prior to. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
prior to, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
prior to in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
prior to you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Preposition
prior to
- (formal) before, previous to.
Usage notes
The etymological antonym of prior is ulterior (from Latin), and the corresponding antonym to prior to is ulterior to (compare primate/ultimate for “first/last”). This is now no longer used, however, and there is no corresponding antonym to express “after”. Typically either subsequent (to) or posterior (to) are used, but these form different pairs – precedent/subsequent and anterior/posterior – and are more formal than prior. For this reason some suggest against using prior to, particularly when it is paired with an antonym, instead using the Germanic before/after.[1] The other aspect of this deprecation is simply avoiding the puffery of fancy words where plain ones would be better;[2] see also following § Usage notes.
Translations
References
- ^ “Antonym of prior to?”, Danny Beckett, English Language & Usage, StackExchange
- ^ Garner, Modern American Usage:
“As Theodore Bernstein once pointed out, one should feel free to use prior to instead of before only if one is accustomed to using posterior to for after.
Anagrams