3previous to somethingBEFORE formal before a particular time or event 在某事物以前
There were almost no women MPs previous to 1945.
1945 年以前几乎没有女议员。
Examples from the Corpus
previous to something• Previous to 1981 there were no women on the SupremeCourt.
nTHESAURUS
previous [only before noun] used when talking about a person, thing, time etc before the one that you are talking about now
The car’s previous owner didn’t take very good care of it.
Please ignore my previous instructions.
The temperature is higher than in previous years.
last [only before noun] used when talking about the one that you had just before now, or the one that existed just before now
The last apartment we lived in was much smaller than this one.
Ben’s last girlfriend was a teacher.
Beth broke up with her last boyfriend because he drank too much.
old [only before noun] used when talking about people you knew or things you had in the past, or about things that existed in the past and have been replaced by newer things
I never liked my old boss.
I saw Phil with one of my old girlfriends.
The new stadium is much bigger than the old one.
He was my old maths teacher.
preceding [only before noun] formal coming just before the time or thing you have just mentioned, or before the part of a book where you are now
There were fewer crimes compared to the preceding year.
The author dealt with this subject in the preceding chapters of the book.
In the preceding section of the poem, Whitman is talking about how important it is to live in the present.
former [only before noun] formal used to describe someone or something that used to have a particular job or position but does not anymore
her former husband
the former US president
Kyoto was the former capital of Japan.
ex-wife/boyfriend/soldier etc someone who used to be someone’s wife, used to be a soldier etc, but is not anymore
Her dad’s an ex-policeman.
Lydia is still friends with her ex-husband.
the one before the person or thing that existed before the one you have just mentioned
I didn’t enjoy Spielberg’s last film but I thought the one before was all right.
Each year, the convention is a little larger than the one before.