Subsequent

How to spell subsequent

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce subsequent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does subsequent mean?

1. adjectiveComing after something else in time or order; following.

Subsequent in a sentence

• The contract was revised in a subsequent meeting the following week.

• The first payment cleared, but every subsequent instalment was late.

Where does subsequent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb subsequi, meaning 'to follow closely' or 'to come after', which was built from the prefix sub-, here carrying the sense of 'following on' or 'next after', and the verb sequi, meaning simply 'to follow'. The present participle subsequens gave the stem subsequent-, describing something that comes along behind another thing in time or order. English adopted it in the fifteenth century, largely by way of Old French, as a formal word for events or items that come later. The same sequi root quietly powers a whole family of relatives, including 'sequel', 'sequence', 'consequence', and 'pursue', all of which involve one thing following another. Keeping that 'sequ' core in mind helps with the spelling, since the tricky middle is really the visible Latin verb 'to follow' rather than a string of guessed vowels.

How the word is built

• sub- (after, following)
• sequ (from sequi: to follow)
• -ent (adjective suffix)