previous
adjective
pre·vi·ous
ˈprē-vē-əs 
1
: going before in time or order : prior
the previous owners
previous attempts had failed
reread the previous page
2
: acting too soon : premature
somewhat previous in his conclusion
previously
adverb
Physicists have constructed a pipette that dispenses a billionth of a trillionth of a liter, a droplet that's a thousand times as small as volumes previously achieved.
—
A. Cunningham
A. Cunningham
Previously, many mutations have been induced by harsh treatments such as X rays, UV light or chemicals.
—Kevin Struhl
Kevin Struhl
previousness
noun
Had I been capable of looking closer then, I might have asked myself why every kind of previousness miraculously survived there …
—Robyn Davidson
Robyn Davidson
Synonyms
Examples of previous in a Sentence
She has a child from a previous marriage.
The two characters met in a previous chapter.
the previous owners of the house
Recent Examples on the Web
Except maybe for 1992’s South of the Border, West of the Sun, no previous Murakami novel has so clearly dealt with and inhabited the muddle of middle age.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
With seven fill-in starts his previous three seasons, Moore has played just 14 offensive snaps this season, nine coming in last month’s loss to Kansas City in which Williams got ejected for throwing a retaliatory punch.
—Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 16 Nov. 2024
But Ukrainians have something else to go on: how Trump dealt with Russia and Ukraine during his previous term in the Oval Office.
—Nataliya Gumenyuk, Foreign Affairs, 15 Nov. 2024
There have been rare cases of such decisions in previous administrations.
—Aleccia Washington, Twin Cities, 15 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for previous 
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Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
With seven fill-in starts his previous three seasons, Moore has played just 14 offensive snaps this season, nine coming in last month’s loss to Kansas City in which Williams got ejected for throwing a retaliatory punch.
—Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 16 Nov. 2024
But Ukrainians have something else to go on: how Trump dealt with Russia and Ukraine during his previous term in the Oval Office.
—Nataliya Gumenyuk, Foreign Affairs, 15 Nov. 2024
There have been rare cases of such decisions in previous administrations.
—Aleccia Washington, Twin Cities, 15 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for previous
Dictionary Entries Near previous
Cite this Entry
“Previous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/previous. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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previous
adjective
pre·vi·ous
ˈprē-vē-əs
previously
adverb
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