[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/postdate/)

[dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [P](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/p/) / postdate

# postdate

verb (postdate, postdates, postdated, postdating)

«postdate» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To write a date on a cheque or document that is later than the day you write it, so it only counts from that later day. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/#m1)
2. (formal) To happen or exist after something else: «These houses postdate the castle.» [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/#m2)

### In the lessons

In money and grown-up life a postdated cheque cannot be cashed until its date. In history and science (dating rocks or objects) it means «come after». It is the opposite of «predate». Phrases: «postdate a cheque», «a postdated cheque», «postdate the war».

### Examples

- Dad postdated the cheque to the first of next month. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/#x1)
- The bank will not pay a postdated cheque before its date. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/#x2)
- The town's library postdates the church by two hundred years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/#x3)
- These cave paintings postdate the oldest ones found in Spain. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/#x4)
- If something postdates another thing, it came later. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/#x5)
- The coins in the hoard postdate the Roman invasion. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/#x6)

### Note

Opposite: predate (to come before; also to date earlier). Sometimes spelled «post-date». Traps: postdate has nothing to do with the post (mail); «post» here is Latin for «after». On a timeline, the thing that postdates sits further to the right (later).

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «postdate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/postdate/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«postdate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/postdate.html) on Mova free.