# precedent

Pronunciation: say "PRES-i-duhnt" /ˈpɹɛs.ɪ.dənt/

## Noun

1. An earlier action used as an example to help decide the outcome of similar situations in the future.
   - Simple: An earlier action that people look at to decide what to do in similar cases later.
   - _The committee worried that approving one late application would establish a precedent for future requests._
   - _Granting extra funding to a single department set a costly precedent across the organization._
2. A decided case cited or used as an example to justify a judgment in a later case.
   - Simple: An earlier court decision that judges use to help decide a similar case later.
   - _The appellate court relied on a 1970s precedent to overturn the conviction._
   - _Without a clear precedent, the trial judge had to reason from first principles._
3. A habit or custom that has become established through repeated practice.
   - Simple: A way of doing something that has become normal over time.
   - _Morning meetings became a precedent that no one questioned anymore._
   - _The village kept a long precedent of welcoming travelers with food and shelter._
5. The earlier version of something; the one that came before the current one.
   - Simple: An earlier version of something that came before the one used now.
   - _Each edition improved on its precedent in subtle but useful ways._
   - _The updated contract kept most of the clauses from the precedent._

## Adjective

Pronunciation: say "pri-SEE-duhnt" US /pɹɪˈsi.dənt/, UK /pɹɪˈsiː.dənt/

4. Occurring earlier in time than something else; previous or preceding.
   - Simple: Coming or happening before something else in time.
   - _Disputes left open by precedent agreements were finally settled in the new treaty._
   - _Precedent generations had cleared the forest for farmland._

## Verb

6. To provide precedents for something, such as a legal ruling.
   - Simple: To supply earlier cases that support a later legal decision.
   - _A handful of nineteenth-century decisions precedent the modern rule on liability._
   - _Statutes from that era precedent much of today's commercial law._
7. To be a precedent for something; to serve as the example that later cases follow.
   - Simple: To act as an earlier example for a later legal case.
   - _The 1954 decision precedents nearly every desegregation case since._
   - _Foundational rulings precedent the legal standards courts apply today._

## Adjective

Pronunciation: say "pri-SEE-duhnt" US /pɹɪˈsi.dənt/, UK /pɹɪˈsiː.dənt/

8. Occupying a position ahead of another item in a sequence or arrangement. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Coming before something else in an order or list.
   - _The precedent paragraphs lay out the terms before the signatures._
   - _Readers should study the precedent sections before turning to the appendix._

## Noun

9. A rough draft of a piece of writing that comes before the finished copy. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An early rough copy of a piece of writing, made before the final one.
10. A thing that has already been mentioned earlier in a text or speech. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Something already named or talked about earlier.

## Origin

The word passed through Middle and Old French from Latin praecēdēns, the present participle of praecēdere ('to precede').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/precedent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).