anterior
adjective
Simple meaning
Of or near the head end or toward the front plane of a body.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
antihreeerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ænˈtɪɹiɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
anatomy
Of or near the head end or toward the front plane of a body
“The scan revealed swelling in the anterior portion of the brain.”
anatomy
Nearer the forward end, especially in the front of the body; nearer the head or forepart of an animal.
formal
Coming before or earlier in time or development, prior to, preceding.
botanyof a part of a flower or leaf
Situated further away from the mainstem.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or near the head end or toward the front plane of a body
Used this way, anterior is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
“The scan revealed swelling in the anterior portion of the brain.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
One of two branches of the internal carotid artery.
Accompanies the anterior cerebral artery and empties into the basal vein.
One of a pair of nerves that originate from lumbar nerves and supply the muscles and skin of the anterior part of the thigh.
A continuation of the angular vein.
Corresponds to the bregma when bones have ossified.
One of the two roots of a spinal nerve that passes ventrally from the spinal cord and that consists of motor fibers.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: of or near the head end
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.