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PlainSpell

predate

/ˈpɹiˌdeɪt/verb, noun

predate is spelled P-R-E-D-A-T-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,633rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, predate means “To designate a date earlier than the actual one; to move a date, appointment, event, or period of time to an earlier point (contrast "postdate".)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in predate?

Letters7: P-R-E-D-A-T-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 3 million words; the 47,633rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is predate?

Predate appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,633rd 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 predate?

  • UK /ˈpɹiːˌdeɪt/
  • UK /ˌpɹiːˈdeɪt/
  • US /ˈpɹiˌdeɪt/

As a verb (“To prey upon something”): /pɹəˈdeɪt/, /pɹɪˈdeɪt/.

Predate has 2 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-uk-predate.ogg, En-us-predate.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Kavunczyk-Predate_(to_happen-_exist_before_a_date_of_something).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with predate

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

pre-date vs predate0 B

Also written: pre-date (one word or two).

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

What rhymes with predate?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as predate (/ideɪt/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: tapered.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of predate

  • predates present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • predating participle, present
  • predated participle, past
  • pre-date

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

What does predate mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To designate a date earlier than the actual one; to move a date, appointment, event, or period of time to an earlier point (contrast "postdate".)

  2. 2

    To exist or to occur before something else; to antedate.

    The Chinese use of Pascal's Triangle predates its discovery by Blaise Pascal.

  3. 3

    To prey upon something.

noun

  1. 1

    A publication, such as a newspaper or magazine, that is issued with a printed date later than the date of issue.

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

Predate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germanvorverlegen (move a date, event), (vorzeitig, zu früh, vorher) auftreten (exist before), vordatieren (to prey)
Portugueseadiantar (move a date, event), anteceder, preceder (exist before), predar (to prey)
Spanishadelantar (move a date, event), antepasar (disused) (exist before), predar, depredar (to prey)

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 predate come from?

From pre- + date.

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

What to look up after predate