before

Plural: befores

Adverb

• At an earlier time; in the past.
• earlier in time; previously
  • "I had known her before"
  • "as I said before"
  • "he called me the day before but your call had come even earlier"
• at or in the front
  • "with the cross of Jesus marching on before"

Prep

• Earlier than (in time).
• In front of in space.
• In the presence of.
• Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).
• In store for, in the future of (someone).
• In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.
• At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking.

Adv

• At an earlier time.
• In advance in position or sequence; ahead.
• At the front end.

Conj

• In advance of the time when.
• Rather or sooner than.

Noun

• Of before-and-after images: the one that shows the difference before a specified treatment.
• That which occurred or existed previously.
• A previous form or instance.

Examples

• An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, and amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations.
• Brush your teeth before you go to bed.
• He performed before the troops in North Africa.
• He spoke before a joint session of Congress.
• He stood before me.
• I had never seen the word ’ZA’ played BEFORE my opponent put it down.
• I want this done before Monday.
• I'll die before I('ll) tell you anything about it.
• I've never done this before.
• In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline".
• The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule.
• This achievement far exceeded anything that had come before.
• We sat before the fire to warm ourselves.
• We walked behind while they went before.
• Your whole life is before you.

Synonyms

ahead, earlier, in front, ahead of, by, ere, in front of, lest, no later than, previous to, previously, prior to

Antonyms

after, behind, later than

Anagrams of before