preliminary
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- first, initial, introductory, opening, pilot, prefatory, preparatory, prior, test, trial
[noun]
Synonyms:
- introduction, beginning, opening, overture, preamble, preface, prelude, start

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Antonyms: postliminary
Related Words: primal, primary, elemental, elementary, basic, fundamental, fitting, preparing, readying

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. pre‧lim‧i‧na‧ry¹ AC /prɪˈlɪmənəri, prɪˈlɪmɪnəri $ -neri/ adjective [only before noun]
[Date: 1600-1700; Language: French; Origin: préliminaire, from Medieval Latin praeliminaris, from Latin limen 'threshold']
happening before something that is more important, often in order to prepare for it:
the preliminary stages of the competition
a preliminary draft
preliminary to
The discussions were preliminary to preparing a policy paper.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. preliminary² AC noun (plural preliminaries) [countable usually plural]

1. something that is said or done first, to introduce or prepare for something else
preliminary to
Pilot studies are a useful preliminary to large research projects.
After the usual preliminaries, the chairman made his announcement.

2. one of the games in the first part of a competition, when it is decided who will go on to the main competition:
Four teams will be eliminated in the preliminaries.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

preliminary
noun
ADJ. essential, necessary, useful | usual After the usual preliminaries the meeting began.
PREP. as a ~ The two presidents met today, as a preliminary to resuming the peace talks.
without preliminaries She began speaking intensely, without preliminaries.
~ to an essential preliminary to serious research

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲