anterior
Other forms: anteriors
The anterior of anything is the front — in humans, it's the area toward the head of the body, opposite of the posterior. Anterior can also refer to something that came before, as in "anterior to the discovery of vaccines."
The word anterior is one of those words that are spelled the same in English today as they were in their Latin origins. It still has the same meaning — "former" or "before." You can remember that by remembering that the prefix ante- means "before." Emily Dickinson once wrote, "Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath."
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of or near the head end or toward the front plane of a body
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Synonyms:
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frontal
belonging to the front part
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frontal
of or adjacent to the forehead or frontal bone
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prefrontal
anterior to a frontal structure
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front
relating to or located in the front
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Antonyms:
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posterior
located at or near or behind a part or near the end of a structure
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back, hind, hinder
located at or near the back of an animal
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caudal
situated in or directed toward the part of the body from which the tail arises
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retral
at or near or toward the posterior
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back
related to or located at the back
- show more antonyms...
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frontal
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a tooth situated at the front of the mouth“his malocclusion was caused by malposed anteriors”
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synonyms:
front tooth
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earlier in time
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synonyms:
prior
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antecedent
preceding in time or order
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antecedent
/ænˈtɪriər/
/ænˈtiriə/
Vocabulary lists containing anterior
In this first book of the Highly Scientific Notebooks of Phineas L. MacGuire series, the fourth-grade scientist who's usually called Mac partners with a classmate on a volcano project.
In this influential essay, Mill examines the nature of liberty as it applies to the individual and society as a whole. Read the full text here.
Learn these words derived from the Latin root ante meaning "before, in front of."
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