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# 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/#m1)

2) (law) An earlier judgement in court that judges follow in similar cases. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/#m2)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/#x1)
- The judge followed a precedent from an earlier case. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/#x2)
- The flood was without precedent in the town's history. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/#x3)
- Her election as the first woman leader set a precedent. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/#x4)
- There is no precedent for a dog joining the school choir. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/#x5)
- Courts in England follow precedent. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/#x6)

### 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precedent/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.