predecease

American  

[pree-di-sees] / ˌpri dɪˈsis /

verb (used with object)

predeceased, predeceasing

1. to die before (another person, the occurrence of an event, etc.).

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predecease British  

/ ˌpriːdɪˈsiːs /

verb

1. to die before (some other person)

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noun

1. rare earlier death

Etymology

Origin of predecease

First recorded in 1585–95; pre- + decease

Example Sentences

If your husband does predecease you, you would also be entitled to 100% of his Social Security amount.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 11, 2025

After age 65, I am due $1,500 every month until I die, and if I predecease my husband, he will get the same until he dies.

From Slate • Oct. 18, 2022

She was also at one time a beneficiary of the Cook Islands trust, albeit only in the unlikely event that Oesterlund and both of their two daughters happened to predecease her.

From New York Times • Nov. 30, 2016

Biden told the Colliers that no child should predecease their parents, and that better times are ahead.

From Salon • Apr. 24, 2013

I thought of Keats, that died in perfect time, In predecease of his just-sickening song; Of him that set, wrapt in his radiant rhyme, Sunlike in sea.

From New Poems by Thompson, Francis