Posteriority

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being later in time or order
2. The state of following or occurring after in time or sequence
3. The characteristic of happening or existing at a later point relative to another event

Etymology: "Posteriority" is a plain formation: the adjective "posterior," meaning coming after or behind in time, place or order, with the abstract-noun suffix "-ity" added to it. The suffix turns a quality into a state, so the word names the condition of being later, the way "gravity" names the condition of being grave or "brevity" the condition of being brief. The base "posterior" comes from Latin "posterior," a comparative meaning "later" or "hinder," which itself derives from "post," meaning "after." That Latin root is the same one behind "post" in English words such as "postpone" and "postscript." Among the many words built from it, "posterior" has the sense of location too, which is why the same family of words can describe either a moment or a backside.

Synonyms: subsequentness, after, following

Antonyms: precedence, priority