Synonyms for anterior
- adjective
Most common
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Prior — coming before or earlier in time or development, prior to, preceding
prior, frontal, front, antecedent, forward, former, earlier, preceding, fore, previous, preliminary, foregoing, precedent, precursory, erstwhile, prevenient
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Coming before or earlier in time or development, prior to, preceding.
Related words
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Anterior, while it can be used of time, is coming to be employed chiefly with reference to place; as the anterior lobes of the brain.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- frontal The movie contains full-frontal nudity.
- inferior This novel of his is inferior to the previous one.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| anterior | falling | |
| frontal | steady | |
| precursory | steady | |
| inferior | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- fore1
- 5 letters
- front1, prior2
- 6 letters
- former2
- 7 letters
- forward2, earlier3, frontal2
- 8 letters
- previous3, inferior4
- 9 letters
- precedent3, preceding3, foregoing3, erstwhile2
- 10 letters
- antecedent4, precursory, prevenient
- 11 letters
- preliminary5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (prior2 = 2 syllables).