"ante litteram" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ante",
        "4": "",
        "5": "before"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ante (“before”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin ante (“before”) + litteram, accusative singular of littera (“letter, writing”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "ante litteram",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "ante litteram",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 2 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In the fifteenth century, he espoused ecology ante litteram. He endorsed ecology before the term \"ecology\" existed.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Patricia Vilches, Gerald E. Seaman, Seeking Real Truths: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Machiavelli, page 191:",
          "text": "What could have been a moral victory or arguably a feminist struggle ante litteram remains a farcical squabble between a nagging wife and a ridiculous old man.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Davide Rodogno, Against Massacre: Humanitarian Interventions in the Ottoman Empire, 1815-1914, page 16:",
          "text": "the new mass media played an increasingly crucial role throughout the nineteenth century as an ante litteram CNN.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Before the term existed; before the term was coined."
      ],
      "id": "en-ante_litteram-en-prep_phrase-2PNNx09C",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "avant la lettre"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "ante litteram"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ante",
        "4": "",
        "5": "before"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ante (“before”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin ante (“before”) + litteram, accusative singular of littera (“letter, writing”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "ante litteram",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "ante litteram",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English terms borrowed from Latin",
        "English terms derived from Latin",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Pages with 2 entries",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In the fifteenth century, he espoused ecology ante litteram. He endorsed ecology before the term \"ecology\" existed.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Patricia Vilches, Gerald E. Seaman, Seeking Real Truths: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Machiavelli, page 191:",
          "text": "What could have been a moral victory or arguably a feminist struggle ante litteram remains a farcical squabble between a nagging wife and a ridiculous old man.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Davide Rodogno, Against Massacre: Humanitarian Interventions in the Ottoman Empire, 1815-1914, page 16:",
          "text": "the new mass media played an increasingly crucial role throughout the nineteenth century as an ante litteram CNN.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Before the term existed; before the term was coined."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "avant la lettre"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ante litteram"
}