How to Use precede in a Sentence

precede

verb
  • She preceded him into the room.
  • The chairman preceded the meeting with a brief welcoming speech.
  • The meeting was preceded by a brief welcoming speech.
  • The new mayor is very different from the person who preceded her in office.
  • The country became more conservative in the years that preceded his election.
  • Riots preceded the civil war.
  • Weeks of tests precede the launch, and the rocket is left exposed to the salty air.
    — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, 25 Oct. 2022
  • The vine features white blooms that precede the fuzzy brown fruits.
    — Viveka Neveln, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Oct. 2022
  • The five fights that appear in bold are the main card bouts, and the ones that will be preceded by a movie in The Sphere.
    — Brian Mazique, Forbes, 11 Sep. 2024
  • If the preceding forty-five minutes fail to catch fire, though, the night grows long.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 3 July 2023
  • Here’s the video of the benches clearing, and the Garcia homer that preceded it.
    — Sportsday Staff, Dallas News, 27 July 2023
  • These are the cars that precede the riders before each stage.
    — Chris Smith, BGR, 29 June 2022
  • Recipes are ideas that are made by people, and all of the messy stuff that can precede them is a reminder of that fact.
    — Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Mar. 2021
  • But this war is on a much greater scale, and of course was preceded by a massacre in Israel.
    — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2023
  • The drawing would precede a few other portraits of the lad and his mother.
    — Roger Catlin, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 May 2020
  • Much of that moisture will precede a cold front, which will enhance the risk of heavy downpours.
    — Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2021
  • The four-song release is, in a sense, a remedy to the album that preceded it.
    — Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2023
  • The free pass made for a callback to Rodón’s last start against the Tigers, as two walks preceded a three-run homer from Andy Ibáñez that day.
    — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 13 Apr. 2025
  • Or maybe those were supposed to precede the rush of new residents.
    — Greg Jefferson, San Antonio Express-News, 19 Nov. 2021
  • But so were the challenges faced and overcome by those who preceded us.
    — Charles Koch, Fortune, 18 May 2020
  • The dream of opening a restaurant preceded his itch to own a brewery.
    — Brandon Hernández, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 May 2024
  • Instead, the shocking gunshot that precedes the film’s title card sets the table for a flashback to the past.
    — Manuel Betancourt, Variety, 25 Nov. 2024
  • Both tracks precede the singer's sixth mainstream studio album, which is set to drop on Sept. 20.
    — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 15 Aug. 2024
  • My thinking was this: This is a heated issue not just of our time but times that precede us.
    — Carrie Battan, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2022
  • Calling hours will precede the service from 10 a.m. to noon at the funeral home.
    — Ed Wittenberg, cleveland, 2 Feb. 2023
  • For all its power to shape this moment, that culture has roots that long precede it.
    — Rachel Monroe, Wired, 15 Jan. 2021
  • Madoff’s two sons, who also worked at the firm but were never charged, precede him.
    — Katy Steinmetz, Time, 14 Apr. 2021
  • It was also preceded by the announcement of a 2024 arena tour that is set to launch in March.
    — Thania Garcia, Variety, 18 Dec. 2023
  • In reality, most, if not all, black holes are thought to spin, and usually scattering events precede an eventual merger.
    — Ramin Skibba, Scientific American, 13 May 2025
  • That is why any state support for Chicago’s regional transit must be preceded with governance reform and restructuring.
    — Joe Ferguson, Chicago Tribune, 9 May 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'precede.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: