previously, adv.
(ˈpriːvɪəslɪ)
[f. prec. + -ly2.]
At a previous or preceding time; before, beforehand, antecedently.
| 1718 Prior Solomon i. 166 Darting their stings, they previously declare Design'd revenge, and fierce intent of war. 1797–1803 Foster in Life & Corr. (1846) I. 216 Principles previously known. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. vi. 45 They were different from any I had previously seen. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. iii. 176/2 About two years previously. |
b. With to: = before (some action or event).
| 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. I. 250 The few weeks which were to be passed previously to their entering the metropolis. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. viii. 708 Previously to describing the changes then made. |
c. Qualifying (and usually hyphened to) a ppl. or other adj. in attrib. relation, forming a kind of compound adj.: cf. aforesaid, etc.
| 1849 D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 37 Introduced into a previously weighed thin small bulb with a long neck. 1849 J. Gray Earth's Antiq. iii. 116 A..previously-existing Earth. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 285 In accordance with our previously-declared rule. |