Synonyms of the word

prior

• adj. advance; coming before.
• adj. former, previous.
• adv. (colloquial) Previously.
• n. A high-ranking member of a monastery, usually lower in rank than an abbot.
• n. (US slang) A previous arrest or criminal conviction on someone's record.
• n. (statistics) In Bayesian inference, a prior probability distribution.

antecedent

• adj. Earlier, either in time or order.
• adj. presumptive.
• n. Any thing that precedes another thing, especially the cause of the second thing.
• n. An ancestor.
• n. (grammar) A word, phrase or clause referred to by a pronoun.
• n. (logic) The conditional part of a hypothetical proposition.
• n. (logic) The first of two subsets of a sequent, consisting of all the sequent's formulae which are valuated…
• n. (mathematics) The first term of a ratio, i.e. the term a in the ratio a:b, the other being the consequent.

anterior

• adj. Before in place.
• adj. Before or earlier in time; prior to; preceding.
• adj. (anatomy) Nearer the forward end; nearer the head of an animal or the front of a human.

preceding

• adj. Occurring before or in front of something else, in time, place, rank or sequence.
• v. present participle of precede.

superior

• adj. Higher in quality.
• adj. Higher in rank.
• adj. More comprehensive, as a term in classification.
• adj. Located above.
• adj. Greater or better than average; extraordinary.
• adj. Beyond the power or influence of; too great or firm to be subdued or affected by; with to.
• n. A person of higher rank or quality.
• n. The senior person in a monastic community.