verb ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To exist before something else. intransitive

   "The new device utilized technologies that preexisted."

2. 2
   exist beforehand or prior to a certain point in time wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

announceantecedeantedateanticipateforerungo before

Example

More examples

"The self does not preexist its structural determination."

Etymology

From pre- + exist.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.