before | |
1. prep. Earlier than (in time). | |
I want this done before Monday. | |
2. prep. In front of in space. | |
He stood before me. | |
We sat before the fire to warm ourselves. | |
3. prep. In the presence of. | |
He performed before the troops in North Africa. | |
He spoke before a joint session of Congress. | |
4. prep. Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone). | |
The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule. | |
5. prep. In store for, in the future of (someone). | |
6. prep. In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items. | |
In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline". | |
7. prep. At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking. | |
An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, an amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations. | |
8. adv. At an earlier time. | |
I've never done this before. | |
9. adv. In advance. | |
10. adv. At the front end. | |
11. conj. in advance of the time when | |
12. conj. (informal) rather or sooner than | |