The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Preceding \Pre*ced"ing\, a.
   1. Going before; -- opposed to following.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Astron.) In the direction toward which stars appear to
      move. See Following, 2.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Precede \Pre*cede"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Preceded; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Preceding.] [L. praecedere, praecessum; prae before
   + cedere to go, to be in motion: cf. F. pr['e]ceder. See
   Pre-, and Cede.]
   1. To go before in order of time; to occur first with
      relation to anything. "Harm precedes not sin." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To go before in place, rank, or importance.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To cause to be preceded; to preface; to introduce; -- used
      with by or with before the instrumental object. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

            It is usual to precede hostilities by a public
            declaration.                          --Kent.
      [1913 Webster] Precedence

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

preceding
    adj 1: existing or coming before [ant: succeeding(a)]
    2: of a person who has held and relinquished a position or
       office; "a retiring member of the board" [syn: past(a),
       preceding(a), retiring(a)]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

78 Moby Thesaurus words for "preceding":
   above, advanced, aforegoing, aforementioned, ante, antecedence,
   antecedency, antecedent, anteposition, anterior, anteriority,
   anticipatory, avant-garde, chief, ci-devant, dominion, earlier,
   early, elder, ere, erstwhile, exordial, exploratory, first, fore,
   foregoing, foremost, former, front, front position, heading,
   headmost, heretofore, hitherto, in, inaugural, initiatory, last,
   latter, le pas, leading, older, original, other, past, precedence,
   precedency, precedent, precession, precessional, precurrent,
   precursive, precursor, precursory, preexistent, prefatory,
   preference, prefixation, preliminary, prelude, preludial,
   prelusive, preparatory, prevenient, previous, prime, prior,
   priority, proemial, propaedeutic, prothesis, senior, superiority,
   the lead, to, top priority, urgency, van