precedent

1. 1.

   an example that is used to justify similar occurrences at a later time

   Synonymscase in point

   Broaderexample
2. 2.

   (civil law) a law established by following earlier judicial decisions

   Synonymscase lawcommon law

   Broadercivil law

   civil law

3. 3.

   a system of jurisprudence based on judicial precedents rather than statutory laws

   “common law originated in the unwritten laws of England and was later applied in the United States”

   Synonymscommon lawcase law

   Broaderlaw

   law

4. 4.

   a subject mentioned earlier (preceding in time)

   Broadersubject

1. 1.

   preceding in time, order, or significance

   Similarpreceding

Other forms of precedent

plural

precedents·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about precedent

What does precedent mean?

precedent means "an example that is used to justify similar occurrences at a later time". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in precedent?

precedent has 3 syllables: prec-e-dent. The stress falls on "prec". In IPA it is /ˈpɹɛsɪdənt/.

What is another word for precedent?

Close synonyms include case in point, case law, common law, common law, case law. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is precedent a common word?

precedent is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.