preliminary

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• præliminary (archaic)

Etymology

From the French préliminaire or from the Modern Latin prælīmināris, formed from præ (“before”) + līmen, līmin- (“threshold”) + -āris (adjectival suffix); compare the Latin līmināris (“of or belonging to a threshold”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: prĭlĭʹmĭnəri, IPA: /pɹᵻˈlɪmᵻnəɹi/, X-SAMPA: /pr\I\"lImI\n@r\i/

Adjective

preliminary (not comparable)

1. in preparation for the main matter; initial, introductory, preparatory

   These are just the preliminary results.

   • 1945, George Orwell, Animal Farm, chapter 1

     And then, after a few preliminary tries, the whole farm burst out into 'Beasts of England' in tremendous unison.

Antonyms

• definitive, final

Derived terms

• preliminarily
• preliminary results
• preliminary considerations

Translations

in preparation for the main matter

• Czech: předběžný (cs) m
• Dutch: voorbereidend (nl)
• Finnish: alustava, preliminaarinen, esi-
• German: vorläufig (de), vorbereitend (de)

• Norwegian: preliminar (no)
• Romanian: introductiv (ro) m and n, preliminar (ro) m and n, pregătitor (ro) m and n
• Russian: предварительный (ru) (predvarítelʼnyj), подготовительный (ru) (podgotovítelʼnyj)

Noun

preliminary (plural preliminaries)

1. A preparation for a main matter; an introduction
2. Any of a series of sports events that determine the finalists
3. A relatively minor contest that precedes a major one, especially in boxing