Anteriority

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ænˌtɪəɹiˈɒɹɪti/

Definitions

1. The quality or state of being situated in front or toward the forward part of something, or of occurring or existing before something else in time or sequence
2. The condition of being located at the front or toward a forward position, or the occurrence of an event happening prior to another in chronological order
3. A state characterized by being in a forward location or the precedence of an event occurring before another in a series

Etymology: "Anteriority" is a plain product of the Latin word "anterior," meaning "before" or "further forward," which itself is a comparative built from "ante," "before." The English noun simply adds the suffix "-ity," which turns an adjective into a state or quality, so anteriority is literally "the condition of being anterior." The word reached English by way of Middle French "antériorité," which came from the Late Latin "anteriōritās." English adopted it as a learned term, and its history is less a story of meaning shifts than of a sophisticated Latin toolkit being borrowed whole. The Latin "anterior" also survives in English anatomy, where "anterior" describes the front of the body, so the noun inherits that spatial sense as well as the sense of coming earlier in time.

Synonyms: precedence, priority, superiority, forefront, preeminence

Antonyms: posteriority, subordination, inferiority, following, succession