<B>precede, </B>verb, <B>-ceded,</B> <B>-ceding.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to go or come before in order, place, or time. <BR> <I>Ex. A precedes B in the alphabet. A band preceded the soldiers in the parade. She preceded me into the room. Mr. Eisenhower preceded Mr. Kennedy as President.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to be higher than in rank or importance. <BR> <I>Ex. A major precedes a captain. A knight precedes a pawn in the game of chess.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to introduce by something preliminary; preface. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to go or come before in rank, order, place, or time. </DL>
<A NAME="precedence">
<B>precedence, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or fact of preceding; going or coming before in time or order. (SYN) antecedence. <DD><B> 2. </B>higher position or rank; greater importance. <BR> <I>Ex. This work takes precedence over all other work.</I> (SYN) priority. <DD><B> 3. </B>the right to precede others in ceremonies or social affairs; social superiority. <BR> <I>Ex. A Senator takes precedence over a Representative.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="precedency">
<B>precedency, </B>noun, pl. <B>-cies.</B> <B>=precedence.</B></DL>
<A NAME="precedent">
<B>precedent, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an action that may serve as an example or reason for a later action. <BR> <I>Ex. Last year's school picnic set a precedent for having one this year. There was no precedent for Roosevelt's election to a third term as President.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Law.) a judicial decision, case, or proceeding that serves as a guide or pattern in future similar or analogous situations. <BR> <I>Ex. A decision of a court often serves as a precedent in another court. Precedent to a court is what past performances are to sports and the theater (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=preceding.</B> adv. <B>precedently.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="precedential">
<B>precedential, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of, being, or like a precedent. <BR> <I>Ex. If he is appointed, any applicant ... can claim ... appointment on the strength of this precedential case (New York Independent).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having precedence; preceding. <BR> <I>Ex. It becomes necessary to distinguish the several precedential or introductory facts ... from the ultimate principal fact (Jeremy Bentham).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>having to do with social precedence. <BR> <I>Ex. Charles the Fifth settled a precedential hubbub between two dames of high degree (Fraser's Magazine).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="preceding">
<B>preceding, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> going before; coming before; previous. <BR> <I>Ex. Turn back and look on the preceding page for the answer. The preceding winter weeks had been dull and gloomy so that today's spring sunshine was a welcome change.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="powerplay">
<B>power play,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Sports.) a play in which members of the offensive team converge at a given point to exert mass force or pressure on the defense. <BR> <I>Ex. a five-man power play in ice hockey.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) any action, move, or play in which strong force or pressure is used to attain a goal. <BR> <I>Ex. The Church was making a last desperate power play ... to keep its immigrant children in line (New York Review of Books).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="precensor">
<B>precensor, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to censor before publication, exhibition, or release. <BR> <I>Ex. to precensor a motion picture.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="precent">
<B>precent, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to act as precentor. </DL>
<A NAME="precentor">
<B>precentor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who leads and directs the singing of a church choir or congregation. <BR> <I>Ex. Observe a bevy of them ... joining in tiny chorus to the directing melody of an elder precentor (Cowden Clarke).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="precentorial">
<B>precentorial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a precentor. </DL>
<A NAME="precentorship">
<B>precentorship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the office position, or function of a precentor. </DL>
<A NAME="precept">
<B>precept, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a rule of action or behavior; maxim. <BR> <I>Ex. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" is a familiar precept. His high-school science course covered many of the basic precepts of modern physics.</I> (SYN) teaching, adage, axiom, direction. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Law.) a writ; warrant; a written order issued pursuant to law. </DL>
<A NAME="preceptive">
<B>preceptive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of the nature of or expressing a precept; instructive. adv. <B>preceptively.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="preceptor">
<B>preceptor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an instructor; teacher; tutor. (SYN) schoolmaster. <DD><B> 2. </B>the head of a preceptory. </DL>
<B>preceptorate, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the office of a preceptor. </DL>
<A NAME="preceptorial">
<B>preceptorial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of a preceptor; like that of a preceptor. <BR> <I>Ex. Wilson immediately proposed the preceptorial system to supplement the stultifying lectures of the day (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>using preceptors. </DL>
<A NAME="preceptorship">
<B>preceptorship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the office or position of a preceptor. </DL>
<A NAME="preceptory">
<B>preceptory, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ries,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a subordinate house or community of the Knights Templars. <DD><B> 2. </B>the estate or manor of such a community. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>=preceptive.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="preceptress">
<B>preceptress, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a woman preceptor. </DL>
<A NAME="preceramic">
<B>preceramic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a period or culture that existed before the making of pottery. <BR> <I>Ex. Associated human artifacts indicated occupation by preceramic Basket Makers estimated to date between 1500 and 2500 years ago (Science).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="precess">
<B>precess, </B>intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to undergo precession. <BR> <I>Ex. When a steady twist is applied to a top ... the top wobbles or precesses slowly at right angles to the direction of the disturbing forces (J. Little).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="precession">
<B>precession, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or fact of going first; precedence. <DD><B> 2. </B>the rotation of a spinning rigid body that has been tipped from its vertical axis by an external force acting on it. This phenomenon is illustrated by the wobble of a top and the gyration of the earth's axis. <BR> <I>Ex. The cross has shifted southward in the sky due to the earth's precession (I. M. Levitt).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=precession of the equinoxes.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="precessional">
<B>precessional, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or caused by precession, especially the precession of the equinoxes. </DL>
<A NAME="precessionoftheequinoxes">
<B>precession of the equinoxes,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the earlier occurrence of the equinoxes in each successive sidereal year. <DD><B> 2. </B>this motion of the equinoctial points. <DD><B> 3. </B>this change in the direction of the earth's axis. </DL>
<A NAME="prechordal">
<B>prechordal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> situated in front of the notochord, especially of the embryos of higher vertebrates. </DL>
<A NAME="prechristian">
<B>pre-Christian, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with the times before the birth of Christ; before Christ. <DD><B> 2. </B>before the introduction of Christianity. <BR> <I>Ex. The Yule log and the holly wreath are only two of the many Christmas symbols that originated in pre-Christian times.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="precieuse">
<B>precieuse, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a woman who affects too much refinement, as of taste or language. <DD><B> 2. </B>(literally) precious. <DD><I>adj. </I> overrefined; precious. <BR> <I>Ex. Her conversation is natural and reasonable, not precieuse and affected (Horace Walpole).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="precieux">
<B>precieux, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a man who affects too much refinement, as of taste or language. <DD><B> 2. </B>(literally) precious. <DD><I>adj. </I> overrefined; precious. </DL>
<A NAME="precinct">
<B>precinct, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a part or district, especially of a city. <BR> <I>Ex. a police precinct. There are over 300 election precincts in that city.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>Often, <B>precincts.</B> <DD><B> a. </B>the space within a boundary. <BR> <I>Ex. Do not leave the school precincts during school hours. The slightest invasion of the precincts which had been assigned to another tribe produced desperate skirmishes (Scott).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the region immediately surrounding a place; environs. <BR> <I>Ex. a factory and its precincts.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the ground immediately surrounding a church, temple, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. They reached the precinct of the God. And on the hallowed turf their feet now trod (William Morris).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>precincts,</B> </I>a boundary; limit. <BR> <I>Ex. The parade will be held within the precincts of the town. The whole population of the valley seemed to be gathered within the precincts of the grove (Herman Melville).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="preciosity">
<B>preciosity, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>too much refinement; affectation, especially in the use of language. <BR> <I>Ex. Her work was sick, he told her--cramped with preciosity and mannerisms (New Yorker).</I> (SYN) fastidiousness. <DD><B> 2. </B>the persons showing such refinement. <BR> <I>Ex. All London had indeedbeen present ... The entire preciosity of the metropolis (Arnold Bennett).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>preciosities,</B> </I>precious things; articles of value. <BR> <I>Ex. five invaluable trunks, full of preciosities (Arnold Bennett).</I> </DL>
