Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
prep_phrase
Before the term was coined (the term being a word or phrase used just previously in an anachronistic way)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Borrowed from French avant la lettre (literally “before the letter”).
Across languages
4 source translations are retained for this English entry.
