Skip to main content
PlainSpell

precedent

/ˈpɹɛs.ɪ.dənt/noun, adjective, verb

precedent is spelled P-R-E-C-E-D-E-N-T: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 6.0 times per million words in written English, the 9,878th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “precedence vs precedent” about 1,300 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, precedent means “An act in the past which may be used as an example to help decide the outcome of similar instances in the future” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of precedent is precedents.

How many letters and syllables are in precedent?

Letters9: P-R-E-C-E-D-E-N-T
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.0 times per million words; the 9,878th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How common is precedent?

Precedent appears 6.0 times per million words in written English, the 9,878th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce precedent?

  • US /ˈpɹɛs.ɪ.dənt/
  • Australia /ˈpɹiː.sɪ.dənt/
  • Australia /ˈpɹɛs-/

As an adjective (“Happening or taking place earlier in time; previous or…”): /pɹɪˈsiː.dənt/.

Precedent has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-precedent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with precedent

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

precedence vs precedent1,300 G
precedent vs president50 G

Also written: president.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of precedent

  • precedents plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • præcedent
  • precedenting participle, present
  • precedented participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does precedent mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An act in the past which may be used as an example to help decide the outcome of similar instances in the future.

  2. 2

    A decided case which is cited or used as an example to justify a judgment in a subsequent case.

  3. 3

    An established habit or custom.

  4. 4

    obsoleteThe aforementioned (thing).

    A third argument may be derived from the precedent.

  5. 5

    The previous version.

  6. 6

    obsoleteA rough draught of a writing which precedes a finished copy.

adjective

  1. 1

    Happening or taking place earlier in time; previous or preceding.

  2. 2

    archaicComing before in a particular order or arrangement; preceding, foregoing.

verb

  1. 1

    To provide precedents for.

  2. 2

    To be a precedent for.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Precedent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchprécédent (past act used as example), décision de principe (leading case which is cited to justify a…)
GermanPräzedenz, Präzedenzfall (past act used as example), Präjudiz (leading case which is cited to justify a…)
Portugueseprecedente (past act used as example)
Spanishprecedente (past act used as example)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does precedent come from?

From Middle French, from Old French, from Latin praecēdēns, present participle of praecēdere (“to precede”); See precede.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after precedent