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ante litteram

prep_phrase

Etymology

From Latin ante (“before”) + litteram, accusative singular of littera (“letter, writing”).

  1. borrowed from ante

Definitions

  1. Before the term existed

    Before the term existed; before the term was coined.

    • In the fifteenth century, he espoused ecology ante litteram. He endorsed ecology before the term "ecology" existed.
    • What could have been a moral victory or arguably a feminist struggle ante litteram remains a farcical squabble between a nagging wife and a ridiculous old man.
    • the new mass media played an increasingly crucial role throughout the nineteenth century as an ante litteram CNN.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for ante litteram. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA