before (before)

(before point1 point2) means that point1 precedes point2 on the universal timeline.

Ontology

SUMO / TEMPORAL-CONCEPTS

Class(es)

class

inheritable relation

temporal relation
is instance of

irreflexive relation
is instance of

transitive relation
is instance of

before

Superrelation(s)

before or equal

before

Coordinate term(s)

back fn begin fn day fn end fn front fn future fn hour fn immediate future fn immediate past fn minute fn month fn past fn recurrent time interval fn relative time fn second fn temporal composition fn time interval fn when fn year fn attribute before or equal connected engineering components cooccur crosses decreases likelihood developmental form disjoint during earlier finishes graph part greater than in list increases likelihood inhibits interior part larger less than manner meets spatially meets temporally modal attribute overlaps partially overlaps temporally path length precondition prevents proper part sibling smaller starts sub collection sub graph sub organizations sub plan sub proposition successor attribute closure superficial part temporally between temporally between or equal time version

Type restrictions

before(time point, time point)

Related WordNet synsets

precession, precedence: the act of preceding
earliness: quality of coming early or earlier in time
priority, antecedence, antecedency, anteriority, precedence: preceding in time

See more related synsets on a separate page.

Axioms (19)

If point is an instance of time point and point is not equal to positive infinity, then point happen?{s} before positive infinity.

(=>
      (and
            (instance ?POINT TimePoint)
            (not
                  (equal ?POINT PositiveInfinity)))
      (before ?POINT PositiveInfinity))

If point is an instance of time point and point is not equal to negative infinity, then negative infinity happen?{s} before point.

(=>
      (and
            (instance ?POINT TimePoint)
            (not
                  (equal ?POINT NegativeInfinity)))
      (before NegativeInfinity ?POINT))

if "the beginning of interval" is equal to point,
then for all otherpoint holds: if otherpoint is a part of interval and otherpoint is not equal to point, then point happen?{s} before otherpoint

(=>
      (equal
            (BeginFn ?INTERVAL)
            ?POINT)
      (forall
            (?OTHERPOINT)
            (=>
                  (and
                        (temporalPart ?OTHERPOINT ?INTERVAL)
                        (not
                              (equal ?OTHERPOINT ?POINT)))
                  (before ?POINT ?OTHERPOINT))))

if "the end of interval" is equal to point,
then for all otherpoint holds: if otherpoint is a part of interval and otherpoint is not equal to point, then otherpoint happen?{s} before point

(=>
      (equal
            (EndFn ?INTERVAL)
            ?POINT)
      (forall
            (?OTHERPOINT)
            (=>
                  (and
                        (temporalPart ?OTHERPOINT ?INTERVAL)
                        (not
                              (equal ?OTHERPOINT ?POINT)))
                  (before ?OTHERPOINT ?POINT))))

interval1 starts interval2 if and only if "the beginning of interval1" is equal to "the beginning of interval2" and "the end of interval1" happen?{s} before "the end of interval2".

(<=>
      (starts ?INTERVAL1 ?INTERVAL2)
      (and
            (equal
                  (BeginFn ?INTERVAL1)
                  (BeginFn ?INTERVAL2))
            (before
                  (EndFn ?INTERVAL1)
                  (EndFn ?INTERVAL2))))

interval1 finishes interval2 if and only if "the beginning of interval2" happen?{s} before "the beginning of interval1" and "the end of interval2" is equal to "the end of interval1".

(<=>
      (finishes ?INTERVAL1 ?INTERVAL2)
      (and
            (before
                  (BeginFn ?INTERVAL2)
                  (BeginFn ?INTERVAL1))
            (equal
                  (EndFn ?INTERVAL2)
                  (EndFn ?INTERVAL1))))

before is internally related to earlier.

(relatedInternalConcept before earlier)

if obj is an instance of object,
then there exist time point time1,time point time2 so that time1 happen?{s} before time2 and for all time holds: if time1 happen?{s} before or at time and time happen?{s} before or at time2, then obj exists during time

(=>
      (instance ?OBJ Object)
      (exists
            (?TIME1 ?TIME2)
            (and
                  (instance ?TIME1 TimePoint)
                  (instance ?TIME2 TimePoint)
                  (before ?TIME1 ?TIME2)
                  (forall
                        (?TIME)
                        (=>
                              (and
                                    (beforeOrEqual ?TIME1 ?TIME)
                                    (beforeOrEqual ?TIME ?TIME2))
                              (time ?OBJ ?TIME))))))

if obj is a result of proc,
then for all time holds: if time happen?{s} before "the beginning of "the time of existence of proc"", then obj doesn't exist during time

(=>
      (result ?PROC ?OBJ)
      (forall
            (?TIME)
            (=>
                  (before
                        ?TIME
                        (BeginFn
                              (WhenFn ?PROC)))
                  (not
                        (time ?OBJ ?TIME)))))

If point1 happen?{s} before or at point2, then point1 happen?{s} before point2 or point1 is equal to point2.

(=>
      (beforeOrEqual ?POINT1 ?POINT2)
      (or
            (before ?POINT1 ?POINT2)
            (equal ?POINT1 ?POINT2)))

point2 is between point1 and point3 if and only if point1 happen?{s} before point2 and point2 happen?{s} before point3.

(<=>
      (temporallyBetween ?POINT1 ?POINT2 ?POINT3)
      (and
            (before ?POINT1 ?POINT2)
            (before ?POINT2 ?POINT3)))

If interval1 takes place during interval2, then "the end of interval1" happen?{s} before "the end of interval2" and "the beginning of interval2" happen?{s} before "the beginning of interval1".

(=>
      (during ?INTERVAL1 ?INTERVAL2)
      (and
            (before
                  (EndFn ?INTERVAL1)
                  (EndFn ?INTERVAL2))
            (before
                  (BeginFn ?INTERVAL2)
                  (BeginFn ?INTERVAL1))))

interval1 happens earlier than interval2 if and only if "the end of interval1" happen?{s} before "the beginning of interval2".

(<=>
      (earlier ?INTERVAL1 ?INTERVAL2)
      (before
            (EndFn ?INTERVAL1)
            (BeginFn ?INTERVAL2)))

If thing is an instance of physical, then "the beginning of "the time of existence of thing"" happen?{s} before "the end of "the time of existence of thing"".

(=>
      (instance ?THING Physical)
      (before
            (BeginFn
                  (WhenFn ?THING))
            (EndFn
                  (WhenFn ?THING))))

If predict is an instance of predicting and formula is a patient of predict, then there exists time so that formula holds during time and time happen?{s} before "the time of existence of predict" or time happens earlier than "the time of existence of predict".

(=>
      (and
            (instance ?PREDICT Predicting)
            (patient ?PREDICT ?FORMULA))
      (exists
            (?TIME)
            (and
                  (holdsDuring ?TIME ?FORMULA)
                  (or
                        (before
                              ?TIME
                              (WhenFn ?PREDICT))
                        (earlier
                              ?TIME
                              (WhenFn ?PREDICT))))))

If remember is an instance of remembering and formula is a patient of remember, then there exists time so that formula holds during time and time happen?{s} before "the time of existence of remember" or time happens earlier than "the time of existence of remember".

(=>
      (and
            (instance ?REMEMBER Remembering)
            (patient ?REMEMBER ?FORMULA))
      (exists
            (?TIME)
            (and
                  (holdsDuring ?TIME ?FORMULA)
                  (or
                        (before
                              ?TIME
                              (WhenFn ?REMEMBER))
                        (earlier
                              ?TIME
                              (WhenFn ?REMEMBER))))))

If parent is a parent of child, then "the beginning of "the time of existence of parent"" happen?{s} before "the beginning of "the time of existence of child"".

(=>
      (parent ?CHILD ?PARENT)
      (before
            (BeginFn
                  (WhenFn ?PARENT))
            (BeginFn
                  (WhenFn ?CHILD))))

If "edition int1 of text" is equal to edition1 and "edition int2 of text" is equal to edition2 and int2 is greater than int1 and pub1 is an instance of publication and pub2 is an instance of publication and edition1 is a patient of pub1 and edition2 is a patient of pub2 and date of pub1 is date1 and date of pub2 is date2, then "the end of date1" happen?{s} before "the end of date2".

(=>
      (and
            (equal
                  (EditionFn ?TEXT ?INT1)
                  ?EDITION1)
            (equal
                  (EditionFn ?TEXT ?INT2)
                  ?EDITION2)
            (greaterThan ?INT2 ?INT1)
            (instance ?PUB1 Publication)
            (instance ?PUB2 Publication)
            (patient ?PUB1 ?EDITION1)
            (patient ?PUB2 ?EDITION2)
            (date ?PUB1 ?DATE1)
            (date ?PUB2 ?DATE2))
      (before
            (EndFn ?DATE1)
            (EndFn ?DATE2)))

If text is a subclass of periodical and "volume int1 in the series text" is equal to volume1 and "volume int2 in the series text" is equal to volume2 and int2 is greater than int1 and pub1 is an instance of publication and pub2 is an instance of publication and volume1 is a patient of pub1 and volume2 is a patient of pub2 and date of pub1 is date1 and date of pub2 is date2, then "the end of date1" happen?{s} before "the end of date2".

(=>
      (and
            (subclass ?TEXT Periodical)
            (equal
                  (SeriesVolumeFn ?TEXT ?INT1)
                  ?VOLUME1)
            (equal
                  (SeriesVolumeFn ?TEXT ?INT2)
                  ?VOLUME2)
            (greaterThan ?INT2 ?INT1)
            (instance ?PUB1 Publication)
            (instance ?PUB2 Publication)
            (patient ?PUB1 ?VOLUME1)
            (patient ?PUB2 ?VOLUME2)
            (date ?PUB1 ?DATE1)
            (date ?PUB2 ?DATE2))
      (before
            (EndFn ?DATE1)
            (EndFn ?DATE2)))