Precedent is an earlier action, event, or decision used as an example later. A legal precedent may guide or bind a court, depending on its authority. Workplace precedent is usually less formal.
Natural pairings include set a precedent, establish a precedent, and break with precedent. Precedent for is the safest pattern when naming later cases. The compound adjective precedent-setting describes an act likely to shape later choices.
Core pattern: set a precedent for
"Set" is the most common verb in workplace warnings about precedent. Use for when you name the later cases that may follow the example.
"The board's decision to offer a full refund in this specific case could set a dangerous precedent for future customer disputes."
"We must ensure that this discount doesn't set a precedent that we cannot sustain long-term."
"Establish" is a more formal option in the same pattern. Words such as bad, strong, or good show how the writer views its likely effect.
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Precedent also collocates with words that describe how much authority it carries.
"The high court's precedent-setting ruling on intellectual property ownership may guide how similar patent disputes are handled."
In law, binding precedent must be followed by certain courts in that system. Without precedent means there is no close past example. Break with precedent means choosing a new course instead of past practice. The first phrase needs legal context. The other two also appear in business writing.
What doesn't collocate
The main mistake is confusing precedent with precedence. Precedence means rank or the right to come first. Write "give precedence to the safety audit" when it should come first. For a past example, use precedent: "There is no precedent for such a large restructuring." Other word patterns occur, but for is safest here.
Practice scenarios
Practice using precedent in situations like:
- warning leadership that a one-off exception could become an unofficial rule
- explaining why a team is declining to repeat a past decision
- catching yourself before writing "precedent" when you actually mean "precedence"
Useful practice phrases:
- "Approving this exception would set a precedent we can't sustain."
- "Let's not break with precedent without a strong reason."
- "This is precedent-setting -- once we do it here, we'll be expected to do it everywhere."
The patterns set a precedent and precedent for are useful and common.
Keep precedent separate from precedence, which means priority or rank.
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