Antedate

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈæntiˌdeɪt/

Definitions

1. To occur or exist before something else in time, or to assign an earlier date to a document than the date it was actually created
2. To assign a date to an event or document that is earlier than its actual occurrence, or to take place before another event in a timeline
3. To exist or take place at an earlier time than another event ; to mark a document with a date that is older than it really is

Etymology: "Antedate" is a compound of the Latin prefix "ante-", meaning "before," and "date." The prefix descends from a Proto-Italic "anti," whose roots reach back to the same Proto-Indo-European stock that gave English words like "anterior" its sense of "in front." The second element traces a longer road: from Latin "dare," "to give," through the Late Latin "data," meaning "given" or "something given," which came to mean a specified point in time in Late Latin. Old French took up the word as "date," and Middle English borrowed it from there. The verb was formed in English by attaching "ante-" to that existing noun, so its meaning is transparent: to put something before another point in time. The same construction produced its second sense, the practice of backdating a document so it appears older than it really is. Because the verb was built from parts already in use, its meaning follows directly from those parts rather than from any single coining event.

Synonyms: predate, foredate, precede, antecede, come before

Antonyms: postdate, follow, succeed, come after, ensue