before
/bɪˈfoɹ/ preposition A1- Earlier than (in time). · I want this done before Monday.
- In front of in space. · He stood before me.· We sat before the fire to warm ourselves.
- In the presence of. · He performed before the troops in North Africa.· He spoke before a joint session of Congress.
- Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone). · The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule.
- In store for, in the future of (someone). · Your whole life is before you.
- In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items. · In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline".
- At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking. · An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, and amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations.
From the library
The painful catastrophe he had just witnessed appeared effectually to have rent away the veil which the intoxication of the evening before had raised between himself and his memory.
He must have placed it on the table before he was attacked; otherwise, of course, it would have fallen when he fell.
He saw before him an officer delegated to enforce the law, and perfectly well knew that it would be as unavailing to seek pity from a magistrate decked with his official scarf, as to address a petition to some cold marble effigy.
“A pretty silence truly!” said the old father of the bridegroom, as he carried to his lips a glass of wine of the hue and brightness of the topaz, and which had just been placed before Mercédès herself.
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