Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
predecease en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˌpɹiːdəˈsiːs/
Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *per-
Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-
Proto-Indo-European *-i
Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i?
Proto-Italic *prai
Proto-Italic *prai-
Latin prae-lbor.
Middle English pre-
English pre-
English decease
English predecease
From pre- + decease.
Meanings
-
The death of one person or thing before another.
‘Private: for the hands of J. G. Utterson alone and in case of his predecease to be destroyed unread,’ so it was emphatically superscribed; and the lawyer to behold the contents.
1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 59–60:
Forms
Translations (2)
it premorienza (anterior death) · fr prédécès (anterior death)
predecease en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˌpɹiːdəˈsiːs/
Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *per-
Proto-Indo-European *preh₂-
Proto-Indo-European *-i
Proto-Indo-European *préh₂i?
Proto-Italic *prai
Proto-Italic *prai-
Latin prae-lbor.
Middle English pre-
English pre-
English decease
English predecease
From pre- + decease.
Meanings
-
(transitive) To die sooner than.
Husbands usually predecease their wives.
Frederick, Prince of Wales, predeceased his father and never became king.
The death of cardinal York extinguished the descendants of James II., and as he had no brother but Charles II., who prædeceased him without legitimate issue, the succession the opened to the descendants of his sister, the princess Henrietta Maria, wife of Phillippe, duke of Orleans.
1883, “The Countess of Albany, Charles Edward, and Alfieri”, in The Monograph, a Serial Collection of Indexed Essays, number II, Bangor, Me.: Q. P. Index, →OCLC, note 4, page 43:If children prædeceaſe progenitours, / VVe are their ofſpring and they none of ours.
1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature M2, verso:Two brothers and a sister predeceased him. Bergoglio is survived by a sister, María Elena.
2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian:
Forms
Antonyms
survive (antonym(s) of “die sooner than”) · postdecease (antonym(s) of “die sooner than”) · outlive (antonym(s) of “die sooner than”)
Deriveds
predeceaser
Translations (2)
fr prédécéder (to die sooner than) · bg умирам преди (to die sooner than)