precede

Verb

• furnish with a preface or introduction
  • She always precedes her lectures with a joke
    
  • He prefaced his lecture with a critical remark about the institution
    

• move ahead (of others) in time or space

• be the predecessor of
  • Bill preceded John in the long line of Susan's husbands
    

• come before
  • Most English adjectives precede the noun they modify
    

• be earlier in time; go back further
  • Stone tools precede bronze tools
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  preface , premise , introduce , lead , come before , predate , forego , forgo , antecede , antedate
• Antonyms: 
  follow , succeed , come after , postdate