“Proceed” vs. “Precede”: 黑料网’s The Difference?

Proceed and precede are nearly identical in both spelling and pronunciation鈥攈ence the common confusion around the two words. But their meanings are quite different. One of these words looks ahead and goes forward, while the other reflects on the past and references what has come before. But which one is which? And what about preceed?

In this article, we鈥檒l proceed to explain the differences between proceed and precede鈥攁nd how you can remember the difference from now on.

proceed vs. precede

The verb proceed means 鈥渢o move forward,鈥� 鈥渢o continue an action,鈥� or 鈥渢o go on to do something.鈥澛燜or example:

• Please proceed carefully鈥攖here are many crevices in the cave.
• The play proceeded after a short intermission.

The plural noun form proceeds is most commonly used to mean 鈥渕oney or profit earned from a transaction.鈥澛燜or example:

• All of the proceeds from the art auction were donated to charity.

The verb precede means 鈥渢o go before鈥� or 鈥渢o preface.鈥澛燜or example:

• He preceded her as president.
• She preceded her instructions with an important announcement.
• The chapters that precede this one are quite different.

In both words, the ending comes from the word cede, which comes from the Latin verb 肠脓诲别谤别, meaning 鈥渢o go.鈥�

But to remember the difference between the two words, you can look at their prefixes. The prefix pro- in proceed means 鈥渇orward,鈥� while the prefix pre- in precede means 鈥渂efore.鈥�

The same root is used in the word recede, whose parts roughly mean 鈥済o back.鈥� The word precedent, meaning a decision that acts as a guide for future decisions, is related to precede and can help you remember that precede ends in -cede and not -ceed.

Is preceed a word?

Preceed is a misspelling of precede鈥攊t鈥檚 not commonly used in any other way. This mistake is likely influenced by the spelling of proceed, which has a pronunciation very similar to precede but ends in -ceed rather than -cede.

Examples of proceed and precede in a sentence

The following example sentences show the different ways we use proceed and precede.

• They were able to determine that the one civilization preceded the other by thousands of years.
• The judge wouldn’t allow the trial to proceed until everyone returned to their seats.
• Robert funded his sister鈥檚 new restaurant using the proceeds from his highly successful toy company.
• Her father preceded her as CEO, and when she took over she proceeded to enact several changes.