precedent

«precedent» in Mova's school dictionary: An action or decision from the past that is used as an… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (a precedent, precedents); adjective (formal, rare)

meaning for a pupil

1) An action or decision from the past that is used as an example or rule for what to do later. tree →

2) (law) An earlier judgement in court that judges follow in similar cases. tree →

sense in the lessons

Used in law, history and politics: «set a precedent», «without precedent» (never happened before), «break with precedent». In everyday life, parents might worry that letting one child stay up late sets a precedent for the others.

examples

• If I let you stay up late, it will set a precedent. tree →
• The judge followed a precedent from an earlier case. tree →
• The flood was without precedent in the town's history. tree →
• Her election as the first woman leader set a precedent. tree →
• There is no precedent for a dog joining the school choir. tree →
• Courts in England follow precedent. tree →

note

Countable. Pronounced «PRESS-i-dent». Homophone-ish trap: «precedent» (an example) vs «president» (a leader). Related: unprecedented (never happened before), precede (to come before).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «precedent» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.