Library / English Dictionary

PREEXIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exist beforehand or prior to a certain point in time

Example:

Did this condition pre-exist?

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "preexist" is one way to...):

be; exist (have an existence, be extant)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

pre-existent (existing previously or before something)

preexistence (existing in a former state or previous to something else)

preexistent (existing previously or before something)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Studies of the links between biology and behavior aimed at identifying preexisting vulnerabilities to tobacco use and addiction.

(Biobehavioral Determinants of Tobacco Use and Addiction, NCI Thesaurus)

The study tested three factors – air pollution levels in homes, blood vitamin D levels, and asthma symptoms in 120 school-aged children with preexisting asthma.

(Vitamin D may protect against pollution-associated asthma symptoms in obese children, National Institutes of Health)

Most chondrosarcomas arise de novo, but some may develop in a preexisting benign cartilaginous lesion.

(Chondrosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)

There is a cost associated with making these traits, says Poethig, senior author of the report, “but the plant needs them, otherwise it’s a goner. Dan showed: no ants, no plants. The plant is eaten by everything from grasshoppers to mice. So there’s a tradeoff happening. And what we found is that these traits seem to have evolved on the back of a preexisting pathway that governs a developmental transition in plants.###!!!###

(Between ants and acacias, timing is everything, National Science Foundation)