"before" meaning in English

See before in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Preposition

IPA: /bɪˈfɔː/ [UK], /bəˈfɔr/ [US] Audio: en-us-before.ogg [US] Forms: before
enPR: bĭfôʹ [UK], bəfôrʹ [US] Head templates: {{preposition}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If x happens before y, x happens first and y happens second.
    Sense id: simple-before-en-prep-dcAP6RP5
  2. in front of something
    Sense id: simple-before-en-prep-yjNSVJWa
  3. until
    Sense id: simple-before-en-prep-LjIA3oS5
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "before",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Preposition"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "preposition"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "be‧fore",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "after"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He worked in a gas station before he became famous."
        },
        {
          "text": "Put out the fire before the house burns down."
        },
        {
          "text": "I have not been there before."
        },
        {
          "text": "She finished before me."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If x happens before y, x happens first and y happens second."
      ],
      "id": "simple-before-en-prep-dcAP6RP5"
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "behind"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She stood before him, looking into his eyes."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "in front of something"
      ],
      "id": "simple-before-en-prep-yjNSVJWa"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It took a few moments before I realized that she was joking."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "until"
      ],
      "id": "simple-before-en-prep-LjIA3oS5"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "bĭfôʹ",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/bɪˈfɔː/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "bəfôrʹ",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/bəˈfɔr/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-before.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "before"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "before",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Preposition"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "preposition"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "be‧fore",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "after"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He worked in a gas station before he became famous."
        },
        {
          "text": "Put out the fire before the house burns down."
        },
        {
          "text": "I have not been there before."
        },
        {
          "text": "She finished before me."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If x happens before y, x happens first and y happens second."
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "behind"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She stood before him, looking into his eyes."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "in front of something"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It took a few moments before I realized that she was joking."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "until"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "bĭfôʹ",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/bɪˈfɔː/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "bəfôrʹ",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/bəˈfɔr/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-before.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "before"
}

Download raw JSONL data for before meaning in English (1.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.