| English Dictionary |
PREVIOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does previous mean?
• PREVIOUS (adjective)
The adjective PREVIOUS has 3 senses:
1. just preceding something else in time or order
2. (used especially of persons) of the immediate past
3. too soon or too hasty
Familiarity information: PREVIOUS used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Just preceding something else in time or order
Synonyms:
old; previous
Context example:
my old house was larger
Similar:
preceding (existing or coming before)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(used especially of persons) of the immediate past
Synonyms:
Context example:
the previous occupant of the White House
Similar:
past (earlier than the present time; no longer current)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Too soon or too hasty
Synonyms:
premature; previous
Context example:
a premature judgment
Similar:
early (at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time)
Context examples
The two previous updates include discoveries from 1999 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2013.
(Report unveils 381 new plant and animal species in Amazon, Agência Brasil)
Write a thank you note for a previous meeting, or have a meeting the day prior to Friday, December 20, for you will see things go well!
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Previous research has suggested a link between fatty diets and hair/skin issues in people.
(New Experimental Drug Reverses Hair Loss, Skin Damage, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
In previous studies, scientists fed bees with RNA fragments that included a segment of an RNA virus.
(Discovery of RNA transfer through royal jelly could aid development of honey bee vaccines, University of Cambridge)
In medicine, refers to a vaccination given after a previous vaccination.
(Booster, NCI Dictionary)
The research focuses on 14 previous studies based on six different groups of participants, totalling more than 230,000 people who were followed over periods ranging between 5.5 and 35 years.
(Reduce Risk of Early Death with Any Amount of Running, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
It did indeed smell vilely—like the old chapel at Carfax—and with our previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using the place pretty freely.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
When we had dined, we went upstairs again, where everything went on exactly as on the previous day.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Warned, however, by my previous experience, I have not come without such proofs as may convince a reasonable man.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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