English - Etymology

From Middle English before (adverb and preposition), from Old English beforan, from be- + foran (“before”), from fore, from Proto-Germanic, from Proto-Indo-European.

English - Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bĭfô', IPA^(key): /bɪˈfɔː/
• (US) enPR: bĭfôr', IPA^(key): /bɪˈfɔːr/, /bəˈfɔːr/
• Hyphenation: be‧fore
• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)

English - Preposition

before

1. Earlier than (in time).

   I want this done before Monday.

   • Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

     Before this treatise can become of use, two points are necessary.

2. In front of in space.

   He stood before me.

   We sat before the fire to warm ourselves.

   • John Milton (1608-1674)

     His angel, who shall go / Before them in a cloud and pillar of fire.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall, The Squire's Daughter, chapterI:

     He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. […] But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again […] she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.

3. Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).

   The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule.

   • John Ayliffe (1676-1732)

     If a suit be begun before an archdeacon […]

4. In store for, in the future of (someone).
   • Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

     The golden age […] is before us.

5. In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.

   In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline".

6. At a higher or greater position in a ranking.

   An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, an amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations.

   • Bible, John i. 15

     He that cometh after me is preferred before me.

   • Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

     The eldest son is before the younger in succession.

Synonyms

• (earlier than in time): by, no later than
• (in front of in space): ahead of, in front of
• (in front of according to an ordering system): ahead of

Antonyms

• (earlier than in time): after, later than
• (in front of in space): behind
• (in front of according to an ordering system): after

Translations

English - Adverb

before (not comparable)

1. At an earlier time.

   I've never done this before.

2. In advance.
3. At the front end.
   • 1896, Hilaire Belloc, The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts, “The Elephant”:

     When people call this beast to mind,
     They marvel more and more
     At such a little tail behind,
     So LARGE a trunk before.

Synonyms

• (at an earlier time): previously
• (in advance): ahead
• (at the front end): in front

Antonyms

• (at an earlier time): after
• (at the front end): behind

Derived terms

• beforehand
• beforetime

Translations

English - Conjunction

before

1. in advance of the time when
2. (informal) rather or sooner than

Synonyms

• (rather than): lest

Translations

English - References

• Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

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