Word: antedate (verb)

Associations

"Antedate" means to come before something in time or to assign a date earlier than the actual date.

• Example 1: "The letter was antedated to make it seem it was sent earlier." Here, it means the date on the letter was changed to an earlier date.
• Example 2: "This event antedates the invention of the telephone." It means the event happened before the telephone was invented.
• Example 3: "The contract was antedated to January, even though it was signed in March." This means the contract shows an earlier date than when it was actually signed. A similar word is "predate," which also means "to happen before." The difference is "antedate" can also mean to put an earlier date on a document, while "predate" is only about time order.

Substitution

You can replace "antedate" with:

• "predate" when talking about something happening earlier in time.
• "backdate" when you mean to put an earlier date on a document.
• "precede" when something comes before something else in order or time. Each word changes the meaning slightly: "backdate" is more about changing dates on papers, "predate" is about time order, and "precede" is more general about order.

Deconstruction

"Antedate" comes from Latin:

• "ante-" means "before"
• "date" means "a point in time or calendar day" So, "antedate" literally means "to put before in time." The prefix "ante-" is common in words related to time or place, like "antebellum" (before the war).

Inquiry

• Can you think of a situation where you might need to antedate a document? Why would someone do that?
• How is antedate different from just saying something happened earlier?
• Have you ever seen a date on a paper that didn’t match when the event actually happened? Why might that be?