prefatory

English

Alternative forms

• præfatory (obsolete)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin *praefator +‎ -ory (“agent”), from Medieval Latin prefatia (whence preface), for classical Latin praefatio (“a saying beforehand”) – see preface for details.

Note that this is borrowed from Latin, not derived in English from preface, as in occasional misspelling *prefecatory.

Adjective

prefatory (comparative more prefatory, superlative most prefatory)

1. Serving as a preface or prelude; introductory, preliminary. [from 1670s]
   • 1868 January 4 – June 6, [William] Wilkie Collins, “First Period. The Loss of the Diamond (1848). […]”, in The Moonstone. A Romance. […], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1868, →OCLC, chapter I, pages 13–14:

     We must begin by showing how the Diamond first fell into the hands of my uncle Herncastle, when he was serving in India fifty years since. This prefatory narrative I have already got by me in the form of an old family paper, which relates the necessary particulars on the authority of an eye-witness.

   • 1939 June, “Railway Literature: Bradshaw's Guide”, in Railway Magazine, page 465:

     The "5th Mo. (May) 1939" issue of Bradshaw's Railway Shipping, and Hotel Guide for Great Britain and Ireland appears in a cream cover printed in blue and gold, and a prefatory note explains that, as 1939 is being celebrated as the centenary year of Bradshaw, it is intended to adopt this livery from now until the September issue inclusive. For October, the centenary month, Bradshaw will be published in a gold cover printed in red and blue.

   • 2012, Jaś Elsner, “Iconoclasm as Discourse: From Antiquity to Byzantium”, in The Art Bulletin‎^[1], volume 94, number 3, pages 368-394:

     This dialogue over coinage was itself prefatory to the attempt to cover up the mosaics of the Great Mosque in Damascus with white cloths by Caliph Umar II (who reigned from 717 to 720 and was the defeated party when Emperor Leo III broke the Muslim siege of Constantinople in 717–18) and to the subsequent edict against images by Umar’s successor, Yazid II (r. 720–24), although doubt has been cast on whether this edict really happened.

Usage notes

Rather formal and academic – preliminary is less formal, while introductory is less formal still. A casual alternative is to use some form of start, as in “To start…” or “Let me start by saying…”, as opposed to “By way of prefatory remarks…”.

Translations

introductory

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: পরিচায়ক (bn) (poricaẏok)
• Bulgarian: уводен (bg) (uvoden), встъпителен (bg) (vstǎpitelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: alustava (fi), alku-
• French: préfatoire m
• German: präponierend (exalted), vorangestellt (de)
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: prefatório m
• Russian: вво́дный (ru) (vvódnyj), вступи́тельный (ru) (vstupítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: introductorio (es) m, prefatorio
• Swedish: inlednings-, inledande (sv)

References

• “prefatory”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• foreparty