APA Dictionary of Psychology

antecedent

Updated on 04/19/2018
n.
  1. an event or stimulus that precedes some other event or stimulus and often elicits, signals, or sets the occasion for a particular behavior or response. See also contingency.
  2. in linguistics, the noun or noun phrase to which a pronoun (especially a relative pronoun, such as who, that, or which) refers back. For example, in the train that I caught yesterday, the antecedent of that is train. See anaphora.
  3. See consequent.

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