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before

before

575 1.0
In front of people or things
  • adverb
  • /bɪˈfɔr/
translation icon : delante de
  • According to Ignatieff, never before have people moved in such large numbers across the globe.

Examples

  • Look, I have to think of something before tomorrow.

  • Subscribe to my channel before you leave.

  • We could drop off our luggage before we go explore Houston.

  • I've got one more question before we go to the audience.

  • No, I've never met you before, sir.

  • Often, these youngsters have a lengthy history of youth care before and during their homelessness.

    Academic text (2008)
  • And I looked up and there standing before me was Julia Roberts.

  • Our quest for energy is creating entropy on a scale never before witnessed in the historical process.

    Academic text (1993)
  • When he looked again, the tyrannosaur was standing there, exactly as before, motionless and huge.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • I should finish my homework before dinner.

Synonyms

in front of
vsbefore
1.0

Ahead of or facing something where people can see it

can express being forward without needing an object or facing
ahead
vsbefore
1.0

In front or moving forward to make progress

focuses on simple spatial relation rather than movement or facing
in front
vsbefore
1.0

At a place ahead of someone or something

is a broader term for being or moving forward in space generally
dead ahead
vsbefore
14 3.4

Directly in front of you

allows a general position ahead rather than this exact placement
out front
vsbefore
10 3.4

Ahead of others in a race, game, or area of work

is the neutral spatial term not limited to leadership or contests
fore
vsbefore
4 5.0

Toward the front of a ship or plane

is the common spatial term used across contexts not only vehicles
afore
vsbefore
  • Archaic
1 9.9

Used in old language to mean in front of someone or before a time

is the modern neutral spatial term without archaic or temporal senses
frontward
vsbefore
4.7

Toward the front of something

also covers being located ahead as a position not only movement

Antonyms

179 1.0

At the back of someone or something

Idioms

56 1.6

It happens soon

Before it gets dark

4 3.8

A quiet time before something busy or intense happens

To do things in the wrong order

4 3.5

To pause and imagine how your words will affect others before you say them

To try something new in a place or way no one has done before

To consider what might happen before you do something

Think carefully about possible risks before you act

To start with simple tasks before trying harder ones

Something that happened before you were born or before you knew about it

8.6

To do or like something before it becomes popular

It happens very quickly

To vomit into a toilet after drinking too much

To give something valuable to people who do not appreciate it

To stop and think before you say or do something that causes trouble

8.1

A polite, playful way to let older people go first

Start with basic skills before trying harder tasks

9.9

A joking rule that says male friends come before female friends

To leave a job or position before someone forces you out

9.7

A phrase telling women to put their friends before men they date

Compounds

45 1.0

At a time before the evening meal

All people get the same treatment under the law

Placed after a year number to show the year is before the birth of Jesus Christ

1 8.9

A person who helps plan a crime but is not there when it happens

Profit a company makes before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization

A cricket dismissal when a batsman's leg blocks the ball from hitting the stumps and the umpire signals out

How Far Ahead

ahead
1.0
before
575 1.0
behind
179 1.0

Surface Forms

before positive

Morphology

before = fore (transparent) = be + fore

The meaning directly reflects 'be-' + 'fore' where 'fore' denotes front/earlier and 'be-' forms an adverbial/prepositional item.

Etymology

Before comes from old parts be- and fore, where fore means 'front', like in forehead. So before can mean 'in front of' someone or something.