as in previous
existing at an earlier time; existing before something else
The insurance does not cover preexisting medical conditions. They made changes to the preexisting law.
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Dissimilar Words
as in preceding
to go or come before in time
an advanced Mesoamerican civilization whose apex and collapse preexisted the arrival of Europeans by hundreds of years
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Recent Examples of preexisting
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025
Hospitals and clinics across my district are seeing higher rates of respiratory distress, particularly among vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions.
—Kenton Gewecke, ABC News, 4 Aug. 2025
My collaborators have preexisting software, which will, every night, get new observations of all the small bodies and objects in the solar system.
—Darryl Z. Seligman, The Conversation, 3 July 2025
The Legislature injecting itself between two parties to rewrite preexisting contracts would create terrible precedent.
—Jay Neveloff, New York Daily News, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for preexisting
Adjective
Bottle episodes are designed to save money for more ambitious episodes elsewhere in a season through some combination of only using preexisting sets, hiring few (if any) guest actors, and not doing time-consuming set pieces.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025
Hospitals and clinics across my district are seeing higher rates of respiratory distress, particularly among vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions.
—Kenton Gewecke, ABC News, 4 Aug. 2025
My collaborators have preexisting software, which will, every night, get new observations of all the small bodies and objects in the solar system.
—Darryl Z. Seligman, The Conversation, 3 July 2025
The Legislature injecting itself between two parties to rewrite preexisting contracts would create terrible precedent.
—Jay Neveloff, New York Daily News, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for preexisting
Recent Examples of Synonyms for preexisting
Adjective
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Representatives for Bardot did not respond to PEOPLE's previous request for a comment on the actress's condition.—
Ingrid Vasquez,
PEOPLE,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Scholtes rejected a second-degree murder plea deal in March 2025 that would have resulted in a sentence of 10 to 25 years, according to previous reporting by The Arizona Republic.—
Jose R. Gonzalez,
AZCentral.com,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Similarly, Hulu’s cancellation rate for the month was 10%, twice the 5% for the preceding two months.—
Todd Spangler,
Variety,
20 Oct. 2025
-
At the Academy Museum cocktail party preceding it, the awards circuit still had its new-car smell; everyone seemed a little more excited to slip into their tuxedos and gravity-defying gowns (or, in the case of Kim Kardashian, a head-encompassing beige silk scarf).—
Dana Harris-Bridson,
IndieWire,
20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
That’s because precedent changes in small but important ways all the time.—
Sonja Sharp,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Feb. 2025
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This adaptation demands re-conceiving large chunks of plot from the ground-up while retaining Liu’s themes, not to mention visualizing concepts with less precedent onscreen than the fantasy tropes Martin deployed and subverted.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
9 Mar. 2024
Adjective
-
His initial coping mechanism was to throw his water bottle in frustration.—
Roshane Thomas,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
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The items collect dust, and the space is rarely revisited after the initial setup until the holidays come around.—
Lauren Bengtson,
Better Homes & Gardens,
25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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While the show has since been rebooted to include the original cast's spouses and children, Polizzi said a lot of people refuse to see her as anything other than an early 2000s-era party girl.—
Hadley Hitson,
Nashville Tennessean,
27 Oct. 2025
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The series sticks with the timeline of Muschietti's movies rather than King's book, meaning the original Losers Club encounter with It takes place in 1989 rather than 1958, and the final battle in 2016 rather than 1985.—
Megan McCluskey,
Time,
27 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Preexisting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/preexisting. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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