anterior, anteriour

[Lat. an terior before, preceding. In Fr. antérieur; Sp. & Port. anterior; Ital. anteriore.] L. Ordinary Language: 1. Situated before anything in place. (In this and the second signification it is opposed to posterior.) (For example, see No. II.) 2. Preceding in time. II. Technically : Used chiefly in sense No. L., in Anatomy, Zoology, Botany, and Science generally. "Hence, if after the anterior face has received the heat from one radiating source, a second source, which we may call the compensating source, be permitted to radiate against the posterior face."- Tyndall : Frag. of Science (3rd ed.), viii. 4, 4, p. 181.