1. existing or occurring before something is discovered
Usage: technical

Examples

• The prediscovery images of the comet were found in archived telescope data.
• Scientists analyzed prediscovery observations to better understand the asteroid’s orbit.
• The prediscovery period lasted several decades before the planet was officially identified.
• Researchers searched through prediscovery photographs for evidence of the supernova.
• The prediscovery data helped astronomers calculate when the object first appeared.
• Medical records from the prediscovery era show similar symptoms were often misdiagnosed.