A difficulty or awkward situation that exists before the main problem or predicament arises.
From Latin 'ante' (before) + 'praedicamentum' (predicament, from 'praedicare' meaning to assert). This word compounds the temporal prefix with the noun form referring to any difficult situation.
This is an extremely rare word that logicians and philosophers might use to describe the antecedent conditions creating a problem—it's like recognizing the warning signs before disaster actually strikes.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.