word choice - Can "predeceased" be used before any event?


When a person dies, it is common to say the person was predeceased by other people such as his parents, his brother, and others.


However, I am wondering if these statements are correct:




  • His brother predeceased his birth.

  • Their child predeceased their marriage.



In these cases, "predeceased" means "died before". But is "predeceased" valid here? Or is it only valid before another death event, as in:




  • His brother predeceased him/his death.



There are various definitions of the meaning of "predeceased". Some refer only to preceding another person's death, but others such as at Dictionary.com (based on the Random House Dictionary) give the definition of "predeceased" as:



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



And there is some legal use of "predeceased" with respect to events that are not necessarily a death event, such as this definition of Survive:



"Survive: An individual than has neither predeceased an event, including the death of another individual, or is deemed to have predeceased an event under §15-11-104, §15-11-702 and §15-11-712 C.R.S."



Searching on Google for "predeceased the event" gives 21,100 results, many of which are from legal documents.


So my question is, in proper English, is it proper to use the word "predeceased" when referring to events other than a death, such as a birth or a marriage or any other event, even something like the sinking of the Titanic?


In other words, is "predeceased" allowed everywhere you could write "died before"?



Answer



predecease Legal dictionary:



die before someone else, as "if my brother, Harry, should predecease me, his share of my estate I give to his son, Eugene."



predecease Merriam/Webster:



to die before (another person)



predecease reference.com



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



Here is a UK reference to try


Over 5,206,000 obituaries, death notices, wedding announcements and all other family announcements, from 511 newspapers, updated daily.




  • His wife predeceased him

  • Predeceased by his wife

  • Predeceased by husband ... and grandson ...



Google NGram predeceased




  • predeceased by his son

  • predeceased issue !!!

  • predeceased beneficiary



So we also found



“Survive” means that an individual has neither predeceased an event, including the death of another individual, nor is deemed to have predeceased an event.



and



Consulars are duly congratulated who predeceased the war between Pompeius and Caesar



I found one blog post by an individual which does not prove anything



Sadly, Lucy's mother, Lucy Dupuy Craig Woolfolk, predeceased the wedding event by 14 >years.



but I also found a lot of



his father predeceased the birth



My conclusion: it IS used with events, but I cannot say if it can be used with any event. People will understand it, but if this is a legal issue, you need to talk to a lawyer


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